Arsenal's Eddie Nketiah in a 'Brilliant Place' at Leeds, Says Aidy Boothroyd

England under-21s boss Aidy Boothroyd believes Arsenal youngster Eddie Nketiah is in a "brilliant place" on loan at Leeds United under Marcelo Bielsa this season. 

Nketiah scored a hat-trick for the Young Lions as they beat Austria's under-21 side 5-1 on Tuesday.

Per Tom Doyle of the Evening Standard, Boothroyd said:

"[Nketiah] gets his minutes with us, and I'm sure he'll do well at his club team.

"He is in a brilliant place, learning off a great coach, and I know because he has said he is enjoying being there at such a big club, and when he comes to us he is ready and fresh—hopefully we can send him back as a better player."

After Callum Hudson-Odoi opened the scoring for England, Nketiah made it 2-0 when he touched in Lloyd Kelly's header.

He had a second before half-time when he headed in a cross from Dwight McNeil:

Football writer James McNicholas was impressed:

After Hudson-Odoi netted his second, Nketiah bagged his hat-trick in the 79th minute when he converted Rhian Brewster's cross:

The 20-year-old had the chance to score his fourth soon after when Brewster was brought down in the penalty area, but his resulting spot-kick was saved.

The striker, who also bagged a brace for England's under-21 side against Turkey in September, has four goals and an assist in nine matches for Leeds this season. He has only started two of those games, with both coming in the Carabao Cup.

Following his hat-trick, his tally sits at nine goals in 12 appearances for club and country this season, averaging a goal every 48 minutes.

Nketiah is hoping he'll soon be starting games for Leeds:

He made just seven first-team appearances for Arsenal last season. He only needs to play 30 more minutes for Leeds in this campaign to have earned more game time than the 301 he played for the Gunners across those seven.

It's clear he'll spend more time on the pitch with Leeds than he would have with Arsenal this season, so a loan spell under a coach of Bielsa's talents should be beneficial to his development.

He still deserves more minutes than he has received thus far, though, so perhaps his international hat-trick will bolster his chances.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette are 30 and 28, respectively, with their contracts running until 2021 and 2022.

Arsenal aren't likely to be in need of a new striker in the next couple of years, but by the time one or both of them are ready to move on, Nketiah will be much further along in his development and could be ready to take over at the Emirates Stadium.