Mikel Arteta is confident that Ethan Nwaneri’s loan move to Marseille for the remainder of the season will be a great experience as the attacker pushed for a loan move away from Arsenal.
The talented ARSENAL attacker signed his new contract last summer and had hoped that he would have more game time this season under Arteta, but he has not got the minutes that he would have liked and a move to Marseille was pushed for.
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, and the Spaniard has spoken about the decision to let Nwaneri go out on loan.
ARSENAL boss 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.
“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.”
He added: “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.”
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