Ethan Nwaneri has just become an unofficial “rookie” when he agreed to extend 5 years with Arsenal. A player with potential and love for the Gunners are really endlessly a “gold mine” waiting for Mikel Arteta to exploit.
Ethan Nwaneri was born less than 3km from the Emirates Stadium at Whittington Hospital in March 2007. Now, at the age of 18, he has signed a 5 -year contract to continue living with the dream of a local boy surrounded by all that belongs to Arsenal.
Islington in northern London is the home of Nwaneri. He went to elementary school in Archway, spending free time to play football at Whittington Park. Just last month, the U21 player helped his community at a boxing club.
Nwaneri's first trip to Emirates was his uncle, who took him to a FA Youth Cup match when Ethan was 4 years old. Gunnersaurus, Arsenal's dinosaur mascot, caught Nwaneri's eye and was done!
The first match of the first Arsenal team that Nwaneri considered was a 1-3 defeat to Monaco in the round of 16 Champions League teams at home in February 2015. Fortunately, that night did not discourage him. Nwaneri became the first player to be born after the Emirates was built for Arsenal to debut at the age of 15 in September 2022.
As an outstanding talent, there is always an external attention when Nwaneri entered the last 12 months of the first professional contract. That contract was signed in 2024 and has a period of 3 years, the maximum time according to the law for all players under the age of 18. As a famous talent since he was in a teenager, he received attention from Chelsea, Man City and MU before signing that contract.
Nwaneri spent time at Chelsea and Tottenham as a child, but Nwaneri's journey with Arsenal started at the age of 5. Nwaneri often stays after training sessions at Hale End Academy Center to see Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe and others honing skills. He was accompanied by his friend and teammate Myles Lewis-Skelly. Together, they evoked similar feelings from fans who witnessed Saka and Smith Rowe at the beginning of the project of Mikel Arteta.
The production of these players may be iconic for Arsenal. Regardless of their original, age or gender, supporters will sympathize with mature players from club levels and shine. The Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri's words, according to Nwaneri's words, “very similar but at the same time very opposite” almost made their existence in the first team become better. Lewis-Skelly is more extroverted but both have found a way to shine.
For Nwaneri, it is most evident when he plays as if he has never been trained. His first minute in the Premier League in the Emirates, in the match against Leicester City in September, gave the audience for the first time to feel what it was. Just a few seconds in the yard, Nwaneri's first action was to receive the ball in the middle of the field, surpassing two players and shot from outside the penalty area. Nwaneri's shot was blocked, but with a score of 2-2 in the last minutes, he changed his energy. The emotional cheers resounded on the pitch and with the help of Nwaneri, Arsenal scored two more goals to win 4-2.
The ability to change the mood of 60,000 people in a snap is very rare. Nwaneri's assertiveness plays a role in it, and has appeared at different times of last season. In the second main kick in the Premier League, on Brighton, Nwaneri went down to face the goal and opened the score.
After the first goal in the Champions League on Girona, Arteta said: “That's (Nwaneri's determination) is what we love in him. He is ready to take the initiative to create surprises.”
The readiness and the ability to “create surprises” are what every team needs. Nwaneri scored 9 goals and created 2 goals in his breakthrough season, comparable to the record scoring recorded by Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney before the 18th birthday even though it was not a striker.
Recently, there has been a shortage of players like Nwaneri. The players can really disturb the opponent's defense, causing the audience to stand up from their seats and remind people why they love football. And that is not always with goals or assists.
There are matches that these aspects in Nwaneri's play have made him the biggest threat to attack Arsenal in the eyes of Arteta – while being the youngest player in the squad – a topic that continued when he moved far to help U21 British defend the European championship this summer.
During the tournament, coach Lee Carsley, who played with Arteta in Everton in a 1-0 victory over Arsenal three days before Nwaneri was born, said: “I like to see him play. Such players really make you excited when they feel the ball because you feel something about to happen.”
Fortunately for Arsenal, it will continue to take place in northern London.
