Arsenal have confirmed that Ethan Nwaneri has signed a new long-term contract with the Gunners.
The Premier League's youngest-ever player was due to become a free agent in 2026, but he has committed his future to his boyhood club for the next few years and is now said to be tied down until the end of the 2029-30 season.
It was reported a couple of weeks ago that Nwaneri had agreed a new deal with Mikel Arteta's side, and the 18-year-old's renewal was confirmed by Arsenal on Friday afternoon.
Reacting to his new deal in an interview with arsenal.com, Nwaneri said: "It means everything to me, I'm so happy to have got it done. This is where I feel at home, and where I’m going to develop the best. I'm ready.
Nwaneri looks ahead to first "real season" after new Arsenal contract
People, places, memories. By Ethan Nwaneri.
Our number 22 is here to stay ❤️ pic.twitter.com/03Ta3HCSNh
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) August 8, 2025
"I’m very excited. I see this as my first real season, and part of a proper squad in the changing room. I'm so excited for what I can bring to the team and how I can help the team."
It has been nearly three years since Nwaneri became the youngest player to ever play in the Premier League, coming off the bench at just 15 years and 181 days old in a 3-0 win at Brentford in September 2022.
Nwaneri continued his development with the youth team for the next two seasons before a breakthrough 2024-25, in which he scored nine goals in all competitions and proved a useful deputy for Bukayo Saka during his superior's spell out with a hamstring injury.
In January, the Hale End graduate became just the third player - after Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen - to score three Premier League goals before turning 18, and he impressed in a central role for Arsenal during their pre-season tour of Asia.
Nwaneri is expected to challenge Martin Odegaard for minutes in the right eight slot next term, and the England Under-21 international has even opened the door to playing up front or on the left-hand side.
"I'm a very versatile player, so I think I'm going to play anywhere across the front five, and I’m ready to do what the manager needs," he added.
Nwaneri signs new Arsenal contract: Who is next?
Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka on April 20, 2025
Nwaneri has become the third Arsenal player to sign a new deal this summer after Gabriel Magalhaes and close friend Myles Lewis-Skelly, and the Gunners now have four players who could become free agents in 2026.
Three members of that quartet - Oleksandr Zinchenko, Karl Hein and Albert Sambi Lokonga - are likely to be sold this summer, but Leandro Trossard could stick around, and a renewal is not completely out of the question.
Now, Andrea Berta's attention must turn to Bukayo Saka and William Saliba, both of whom are out of contract in 2027, and Real Madrid may very well be banking on the latter running down his deal before a free transfer in two years' time.
Meanwhile, Gabriel Martinelli's deal also expires in 2027, but Arsenal can activate a 12-month extension option in his terms and would almost certainly do so if the situation called for it.
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