Ethan Nwaneri is one of the most promising young talents in the Premier League. He became the youngest player to debut in the Premier League when he came on for Fabio Viera in the closing minutes of the 3-0 win against Brentford in September 2022. Since then, he has won over the fans with his play.
During Odegaard’s absence, many expected Arteta to play Nwaneri in a couple of games as he was the only player in the team capable of playing Odegaard’s role. To the despair of fans, Nwaneri was rarely used.
He has been great at Arsenal and even better for the England U19s. The English youngster has scored in every game that he has started this season. Nwaneri is young but plays with a maturity beyond his age. Scoring six in six for the national team and three goals in two Carabao Cup games for the Gunners. Mikel Arteta has always said great things about him but has been vocal about managing his game time.
Nwaneri came on in the eighty-second minute against Nottingham Forest and scored his first league goal. After the game, Arteta talked about how he is responsible for building Nwaneri’s career and his plan to do it ‘Brick by Brick’.
We have seen with players like Jude Bellingham and Cole Palmer that giving an important role to a talented youngster can sometimes do wonders to accelerate their growth. Slow
Ethan Nwaneri is special
The academy has produced great talents, Bukayo Saka is the latest from the lot to h one of the world’s best. Ethan Nwaneri could very well be the next world-class academy graduate for Arsenal.
November at The Arsenal ✊
1. Ethan Nwaneri becomes the club’s second-youngest player to score in the Premier League and Alessia Russo grabs our second-fastest goal Arsenal WSL history pic.twitter.com/fdMIgld0uB
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) December 1, 2024
He is a great dribbler and can skip past opposition challenges with ease. His first touch combined with his passing ability and vision is too good for a seventeen-year-old. Arteta pointed out that it is rare to see a talent like him at such a tender age.
The manager said that the decision to hand him his debut was made to show the club’s belief and trust in him. Apart from being extremely talented, Nwaneri is also lucky to be at Arsenal. The club provides him with the perfect environment to grow into a world-class player one day.
Arsenal is perfect for him
At Arsenal, Ethan Nwaneri will get to learn from one of the best mentors for him, Martin Odegaard. Apart from positional and stylistic similarities, Odegaard can help him with a few other things too. Odegaard also made his professional debut at the age of fifteen and has gone through a similar process in his career too. He is also one of the best attacking midfielders of his generation and Nwaneri would learn a lot from the poise with which the Norwegian plays.
Being at Arsenal as a seventeen-year-old is great for Nwaneri. He gets to be a part of one of the best teams in the world, competing for every possible trophy. Bukayo Saka never had that, Saka has grown up together with Arsenal.
Nwaneri is lucky to share the dressing room with winners and experienced players. He will learn the business part of the sport soon as he signs his first long-term contract. Being in an environment with top professionals who believe in your talent is a blessing for any budding footballer. But when a team like Arsenal gives so much attention to a youngster then he must be viewed as a future superstar.
The squad has other promising youngsters too, but Ethan Nwaneri is in a league of his own. He is surely Arsenal’s next big academy player since Saka.
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