When Arsenal needed a goal at home to PSG, Ethan Nwaneri was not brought on until the 91st minute. In Paris, despite the Gunners reaching a point where they needed to throw everything at the French champions, the teenager remained on the bench. Calafiori and White were deemed better attacking options.
At the weekend, when Trossard went off injured, he was replaced by a left-back. For the second game in a row, Arsenal’s 18-year-old prospect was left unused. Even in recent Premier League fixtures, where it was widely assumed Mikel Arteta was rotating with one eye on the Champions League, Nwaneri’s minutes remained limited.
Losing at home to Bournemouth, it took until the 86th minute for the youngster to be introduced. That was also the case when Arsenal were held by Crystal Palace. Against the Eagles, in perhaps the clearest sign he has slipped down the pecking order, Raheem Sterling was preferred from the start.
Tactical choices or deeper concerns?
This is why some supporters are unwilling to let the manager hide behind injuries and red cards. At times, strange decisions have been made. Why give minutes to a player who is unlikely to be in North London next month rather than to someone who could be the future of the club?
It is worth stressing that the manager maintains these are purely tactical decisions, so it would be wrong to suggest there are any issues with attitude. Although the Spaniard once said weekly that Özil was a model professional in training, he still paid him to stay at home.
The last time Nwaneri had enough time to make an impact was away at Ipswich, where he scored after coming on shortly before the hour mark. We do not see the players every day, but the coaching staff do. You have to trust their judgement. Clearly, they have seen something that has led to his reduced playing time. That is literally their job.
It does not necessarily mean Nwaneri has done anything wrong. It could be physical, with the staff not wanting to take risks. It might be a decision to avoid overplaying someone so young, or even a way to give him a mental break. To make the step from academy to first team, the talent is a given. But at the highest level, skill and technique alone are not enough.
More than talent required to thrive at the top
Managing a young player is as much about personal development as it is about football. Nwaneri only recently became a legal adult and is already living his childhood dream. Consider the odds of becoming a professional footballer at all , then consider the odds of doing so for the club you support.
Every fanbase dreams of seeing one of their own make it. Patience is often extended to academy products, but so is expectation. We have seen it with Lewis-Skelly, and before him Wilshere, Maitland-Niles, Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah. It is why brands like Adidas prefer players from Hale End or those who are British when choosing models for merchandise. These are the players fans identify with most.
Decent performances are described as good, good ones as great. Comparisons are drawn before players have achieved anything. Hype builds on nothing more than hope. For instance, in pre-season, Nwaneri was described by some as more skillful than Lamine Yamal. Yes, that Yamal, the 16-year-old who won the Euros, was named Young Player of the Tournament and had five goal involvements, all after already winning La Liga with Barcelona. At that time, Nwaneri, a year older, had not started a Premier League match.
Unless those fans were watching Arsenal under-21s every week, those judgments were based on a handful of friendlies. That was also enough for some to claim he was more talented than Cesc Fàbregas at the same age.
Surely, if Arsenal had someone more skillful than Yamal, he would have been starting far more often. Yamal has gone from strength to strength, winning a domestic double with Barcelona. Nwaneri, by comparison, is 15 points away from that level, having scored nine goals and provided two assists in 36 appearances. Yamal, a year younger, has 17 goals and 25 assists from 53 games.
That gives you an idea of the spotlight placed on any young Gunner, particularly one who has been at the club since the age of eight. This is where Arteta earns his money. It is less about what the player does with the ball and more about how he develops as a person.
How does he handle praise? How does he interact with his peers in the canteen? How does he treat non-playing staff? What is he like on the team coach? Is he buying into the hype or staying grounded?
Arteta’s track record makes things hard to predict. The 43-year-old is not afraid to drop a player who no longer fits his ethos. You could name a whole XI of players frozen out for falling short of his principles.
At Nwaneri’s age, inconsistency is to be expected. Perhaps the decision has been made to take him out of the pressure cooker and let him breathe. Perhaps this is Arteta protecting him for the long term.
How the youngster responds will be the next step in his development.
Thoughts Gooners?
Dan Smith
_________________________________________________________________________________
ADMIN COMMENT
So here are some simple rules which I must insist commenters follow….
You agree not to give any personal abuse to other Arsenal fans. Everyone is allowed to hold their own opinions even if you disagree with them. It COSTS NOTHING TO BE POLITE TO OTHER ARSENAL FANS.
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us here…
He came in all guns blazing but his form dipped a bit. Was that lack of real playing time? His age? A bit too soon? Or whatever. He probably should have had a bit more time. BUT he will have time to prove himself next season.
Interesting points and I think you’re on the money
Could be wrong, but Nwaneri comes across quite differently from Skelly in terms of his in your face self belief. I’m going with a huge talent that isn’t quite ready- but definitely on the cusp of becoming a much better player and will get his chances
Hopefully Sue. He is raw and he is young. So plenty of time.
It’s not of age & doesn’t want to overwork an 18 year old. Lamine Yamal is younger but is pivotal to Barca ‘s success as well as the Spanish team. Rooney arrived on the football scene when he was younger. I believe there are other issues which will surface later.
In later stages opponents knew him well and was put on their focus. He then stopped there. He initially benefited from unanonymity factor. Tbh he just got minutes due to injuries esp Saka. He is otherwise just a cup player. He is of Yamal’s age but miles apart in talents. Poor in helping his nearest Arsenal defender on the flanks. His always grimacing face needs to learn enjoying football and radiate smiles. My friends doubt his age is understated due to his suffering like look. Let him learn to smile and speak with teammates.
@Ambachew
So, other than not helping his nearest defensive partner( according to you), he won’t develop until he smiles or either changes his facial expressions? For real?🤔
Ridiculous article.
Young kid being managed well.
He will be some player
My take on Nwaneri lack of development is well documented, keep hearing nonsense about the kid is too young for his heavy development etc.
Sure young players don’t always develop at a linear pace, natural dips and period of adjustment as they mature physically and mentally.
While the kid has received opportunities due to injuries to senior players, his playing time has been severely limited,
At a time when everyone was beating Southampton, why was the young Arsenal Academy graduate did not started in that game?
It boils down to trust.
So if the club was focusing on Nwaneri long term development and is choosing to give him more time in less competitive matches, why wasn’t the kid thrown in to play against Southampton?
It all boils down to coaching decisions or change in team’s tactics that ultimately hampered the kid development, had he been playing at Brighton the Narrative would have been completely different, some ridiculous figures would be quoting for his service and maybe we all talking about the next big thing.
Congratulations to Crystal Palace
Well Done winning FA Cup
Awesome win
Yeah great atmosphere
Well done Eddie and Turner
I find it difficult to read Arteta when it comes to his management of seasoned professionals let alone promising youngsters like Nwaneri and MLS neither of whom are in the same class as a truly generational talent like Yamal.I believe that Max Dowman is “exceptional” for his age and it will be interesting to see if our Manager gives him the opportunity to parade his skills in the first team squad, bearing in mind the pace and competitiveness of the Premier League.
What I’ve seen of him over the last 2 seasons ,I would say he might be the most talented youngster I’ve seen at the club in my time as an Arsenal supporter (apart from rat boy fabregas )even ahead of Saka at that same time of development.
Couldn’t tell what his best position is TBF ,he’s small (1.76cm)but stocky but with loads of pace .
Something our world class manager will sort out .
Why doing I think Ethan should have enough time on pitch like skelly
He played enough games this season for player of his age and we can expect more involvement next season. I don’t understand where the author gets the idea of lack of playing time.
And no, he was ahead of Sterling in the team selection just check the numbers of both players. And Sterling needs to be given playing time to that’s what he’s paid for.
Comparison to Yamal, though, I don’t know where you got that, is ridiculous if true. Yamal is a generational talent but Ethan is also exciting.
Wait till you see Max Dowman, amazing kid.
GB, I see he’s been selected for the England U17 squad.
Heard a lot of good things about Dowman. Hopefully he lives up to the hype and doesn’t turn out like Charlie Patino.
It’s true
Whilst acknowledging young players need to be managed sensibly in regards playing time I cannot see the sense of bringing someone on in the 86th or 91st minute of a game where we are chasing goals. Surely a player whoever he is needs 20 minutes at least to get involved in a game.
This 👆
Would add when we were 3-4 nil up still not bringing on said players .
Being playas as a winger, expecting to be Saka Mark2,, certainly didn’t help Nwaneri’s cause or confidence. Will definitely have the final word on Arteta’s man management know-how tomorrow.
Nwaneri’s minutes this term were vastly due to Saka’s injury. When Saka returned from the injury, Nwaneri had to relinquish the position. Next season will surely see Nwaneri having quite a share of minutes as he will rotate with Saka and also fill in for Odegaard when called upon. The games will be many and close.
In the two positions he’s featured for Arsenal (right wing & midfield attack) I don’t see him yet as an upgrade on what we already have in those two spots. But he does need a bit more time on the pitch to prove himself as I see him as the regular first choice No 10 within two seasons. A Bergkamp in waiting.
I wonder who they’re holding that shirt back for
Probably to protect him both physically and mentally. He wasn’t supposed to play this many games this season. 36 games is a lot for a 17/18 years old, yes a lot were only cameos but still 1303 minutes. Not to mention who he was suppose to deputize for. He also doesn’t look as physically developed than Skelly who is a specimen. Remember how Saka bulked up to better withstand the EPL, now Nwaneri has to do the same.
People always forget that most kids aren’t supposed to be playing regular football at our level, that’s why they are special talents. They also don’t mature the same in term of physical and mental development. Yamal is an anomaly, a freak and will make things much worse now in term of expectations especially from casual fans.
I can’t think of a better attacking player in world football right now than yamal, except maybe Salah (even then I think yamal is better in big games). Everything yamal does oozes class, and no one’s really been able to stop him. I don’t think he’s a Messi-level talent (could be, but I doubt it), but he’s better than Messi was at 17 imo (Messi took a while to start scoring, whereas yamal hasn’t struggled at all from that perspective). I don’t know that there’s ever been someone so good at such a young age since Pele? Whoever compared nwaneri to yamal got it wrong – it’s not worth dwelling on.
That shouldn’t take anything away from nwaneri – he’s clearly got enormous talent and you can see he wants to win and make an impression on his teammates. I do think he has world class potential, but development doesn’t always go in a straight line – it could be arteta is playing him less because of something he doesn’t like in his game, or it could be that he’s concerned about something in his attitude (trying too hard to impress?), or it could be that he picked up a couple of injuries and we wanted to slow things down as his body develops. Who knows. Could be arteta who’s getting it wrong, but I’m sure he has a reason for it.
My take on it is, that Arteta has been accused in the past of not really caring about the academy players.
And when you see some of the academy players let go, he was questioned even more.
Now this opens another question for me, have the likes of Nwaneri and Lewis Skelly been given more game time because of the injury’s the club have had, or would they have got chances anyway. Well I don’t suppose we know the true answer to that question, only Arteta does. But it’s a valid question all the same.
Derek
Mavropanos was widely regarded as a player that Arsenal shouldn’t have let go. He plays for West Ham and a pundit described him recently as just not good enough.
I’m trying to recall any player that left Arsenal as a youngster (in recent times) leaving directly to an opposing team in the EPL who has blitzed it. Others who have done well have taken time to develop before getting their chance to shine.
My view on Arteta is that he’s overly cautious at times
For me SueP,
I’m thinking more along the lines regarding Biereth (please forgive the spelling) at Monaco. Now when he was at Arsenal, the two clubs he went on loan to, he showed he could clearly score goals. But when he returned back to the club, he was just bombed out by the club.
And maybe that has had a knock on effect on other academy talents like the two that chose to leave for United. They may have been possibly swayed when they saw the way that the player was treated by Arsenal.
Arsenal have not shown any respect to Ethan Nwaneri. Not giving a player minutes at such a crucial period could have serious consequences for both player and club.
Player does not feel trusted or an important part of the unit. – I think other teams will value Nwaneri better. He may love Arsenal but i am not too sure they have his best interest at heart.
NN is extremely gifted. I do hope he develops in to a beast of player for us in the future.
I see various comments on here saying he is so talented and he needs more minutes. Unfortunately life is not just about pure talent alone.
Hunger, desire, passion, etc aptitude alone is not enough
We don’t see that part only the name on the team sheet
Ethan will be wise to move to another team before Arteta ruins him . Skelly is getting those minutes because we dont have a LB .