Mikel Arteta is confident that Ethan Nwaneri's loan move to Marseille for the remainder of the 2025/2026 season will be a great experience as he joins the French giants.
The talented attacker signed his new contract last summer and netted against Brighton in the Carabao Cup before making his short-term move to the Ligue 1 outfit.
It's a move Mikel is familiar with, having seen William Saliba make the switch on loan for the 2021/22 campaign before returning to N5 and making his mark.
Mikel said: "I think the talented young players that we have need minutes, and in this case, Ethan wasn’t having enough minutes, and the last thing that we want is to cut his development because he’s such a talent and someone who lives and breathes football; that’s his life.
"After discussing it with him, his father, the agent, and the club, we decided the best thing to do was to leave and go on loan.
Read more Ethan Nwaneri joins Marseille on loan
"Then we have to pick the right place, and having all the options, understand the experience that we had in Marseille as well with [William Saliba], the fact that Roberto [De Zerbi] is there and he’s an incredible developer of young talent and he’s a really courageous manager in the way he plays, the way he plays with young talent as well and he has a big track record about that.
"I think it fits the way of playing for the qualities that we want to see for Ethan. So it’s going to be a great experience for him."
Ethan enjoyed a breakthrough campaign last season, netting nine times in 37 matches.
Mikel himself enjoyed two loan spells in his own playing career and believes they are beneficial in helping realise a player's potential.
He said: "Not only me but a lot of players that have these kinds of situations and just understanding how he's going to feel because when they talk about the opportunity and the clubs that are interested in you to go the first thing is excitement.
"You are willing to play, you speak to the manager, he's very keen on you and you're going to play at the weekend and you're going to start a lot of games and this is all very good.
"But one day you have to go ‘okay, pack your bags, this is the flight tickets and you have to go to Marseille,’ and that is fear, is insecurity, is getting out of a place that has been really comfortable for him around his family.
"But then this is the thing at the end - you have to be thrown there, into the sharks in an incredible football culture and atmosphere and club and it's going to make him so good."
Read more Nwaneri and Dowman: The PL's youngest-ever players
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