‘I looked Ethan in the eye and I knew he was ready’
FOR a brief moment it looked like Ethan Nwaneri would slip
off quietly to Arsenal’s dressing room after making Premier League history.
But his team-mates were not about to let his incredible moment — becoming the league’s youngest player aged 15 years and 181 days — pass without a deserved fanfare. Following Nwaneri’s added-time cameo, goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale beckoned back the youngster, the first aged under 16 to play in the division, as he headed for the tunnel.
With his arm around Nwaneri’s shoulder, Ramsdale walked him towards the Arsenal fans so he could sample the acclaim for victory as well as his first senior minutes.
An extra cheer went up after Ramsdale and then Gabriel Martinelli pushed the attacking midfielder, who Granit Xhaka has taken under his wing, forward so he could be celebrated on his own.
Nwaneri had earned his moment after a brilliant start to the season with Arsenal’s academy, scoring four goals and setting
up five more in 10 games. He made his Under 18s debut in the
2020-21 season aged 14, scoring against Reading, and his Under 21 bow earlier this month. He trained with the first team on
Saturday and Mikel Arteta said: ‘It was a pure gut feeling. When I met him, I had that feeling.
I liked what I saw. I looked him in the eye and I knew he was ready. Per Mertesacker and the academy staff are giving me really good information, Edu (technical director) as well. ‘He has trained a couple of times
with us. Yesterday he had to come in because we have injuries, especially to Martin
Odegaard, and then I had that feeling if the opportunity could come that I was going to do it. I told him he was going to be with us and that I want him to experience how it is to be in the hotel, to do a preparation for the game, to be around the boys and that he had to be ready.’ Nwaneri, who was born after the Emirates opened in
2006 and has to get ready in a separate changing room
to his adult team-mates, only got one touch in his few minutes on the pitch but a string of records tumbled when he came on.
He also became Arsenal’s youngest Premier League player, a record held by Jack Wilshere at 16 years and 256 days, and the youngest player in any competition for the club. That had been Cesc Fabregas, who made his first-team debut aged 16 years and
177 days.
Harvey Elliott, then at Fulham, had held the Premier League record of 16 years and 30 days. A pupil at St John’s Prep and Senior school, Enfield, Nwaneri is also the first player born in 2007 to feature in any of Europe’s top five leagues. With both Manchester clubs and Liverpool on Nwaneri’s trail, handing him a fast-tracked opportunity is a good way of showing him what may lie
ahead at Arsenal.
‘It sends a strong message about who we are as a club,’ Arteta said. ‘That we give opportunities when there is talent and personality and players who love what they do and when they have no fear. The doors are open to explore where they can go.’