Journalist Charles Watts has revealed that Arsenal winger Reiss Nelson has always insisted he "wants to stay" despite talk of a contract rejection.
What's the latest Arsenal contract news?
As per Capology, the winger will see his £15k-p/w deal expire this summer. With that being the case, much uncertainty lingers over the 23-year-old right now.
After all, he has delivered some great moments for the Gunners recently – most notably that last-minute winner against Bournemouth – but still isn't a regular with just eight Premier League outings this term.
And the latest report from Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Nelson has now rejected the first new contract proposal made and has been approved by clubs in England and across Europe for a summer move.
While discussing this development on his YouTube channel, Watts revealed that Brighton are one team keen on the Arsenal man, but whenever he'd spoken to Nelson, the winger had been keen to stay in north London.
The journalist explained (12:07): "Whenever we've spoken to Reiss, certainly after games down in the mixed zone, he’s always absolutely made it clear he wants to stay at Arsenal.
"But now I suppose you'd want to stay, but you'd want to stay on decent terms and if Arsenal aren't offering you terms to sort of convince you to stay, especially when you know you're going to be a bit part player, then you're not definitely going to say yes.
"There's going to be plenty of interest in Reiss. I think he's done really well for himself this season, he's always making an impact now when he comes off the bench.
"Brighton are believed to be heavily interested in Reiss Nelson and Brighton are a very attractive club right now. There'll be others as well potentially from abroad – we know he did well when he went to Germany and had that loan spell before he came back to Arsenal.
"So some big decisions for Riess to make. He's the one who's got the power now."
Will Nelson stay at Arsenal?
It's certainly promising news that Nelson wants to stay at Arsenal in theory. And he's proven his quality as a good squad option with three goals and two assists in just 138 minutes of league action this season.
However, at 23 years of age and with teams like Brighton interested, the Englishman may feel as though he'd be better off playing elsewhere if he wants the sort of regular playing time to take the next step in his career.
With that in mind, it feels as though everything is still up in the air as Nelson must potentially choose to either go with his heart and stay or to follow his head and leave.
Perhaps if more money will be added to the next proposal, that could also help convince him to remain in north London.