Ethan Nwaneri might have scored his first ever Premier League in Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest this afternoon, but it was his fourth of the season having netted three times in the EFL Cup.
For a player with just 230 minutes of playing time this season across all competitions, that’s an incredible return, and inevitably there were questions about him after the game that Mikel Arteta addressed.
Not for the first time, he produced a cameo from the bench that left everyone wanting more, but while the Arsenal boss was full of praise for how the 17 year old plays, he sounded a note of caution in order to ensure he undergoes the best possible development at first team level.
“What I like is that he comes in and in that context the first thing he does is take a touch, runs forward, runs past two players and put it inches away from the post,” said Arteta.
“I am responsible to build a career for him. You have to do that brick by brick. Today he put another brick. Now we have to put another cement, make sure it doesn’t get dry so we can put another one and that will stick.
“Then we put one more layer, one more layer. If you want to put five in a row believe me it won’t work.
“We have to manage not only his expectation but his load as well, which is really important.”
And addressing the expectations around such an exciting talent, Arteta continued, “I will try to educate him, raise him, and give him the pathway that we believe is the best.
“His family, his agent, his friends, they will be very important as well. Don’t listen too much to the noise, focus on what he does which is to play football and he loves every minute of it and good things will happen to him for sure.”
It might be slightly frustrating for fans who want to see more of a young player who is so exciting to watch, but it also makes sense when you consider his age – and how many players who are thrust into action so young often suffer the consequences as they get older.
No doubt as this season continues, he will play more and more, but this evening let’s enjoy the fact he’s got off the mark in the Premier League, and the knowledge that today’s goal will be the first of many.
So by my count, Nwaneri has eight starts across levels this year
So by my count, Nwaneri has eight starts across levels this year He’s scored every time he’s started, and has 11 G+A total
— Billy Carpenter (@billycarpy.bsky.social) November 23, 2024 at 5:14 PM
Well said Arteta.
We don’t want Ethan to go the way of Jack Wilshere. Let him build up to be a first team regular, carefully.
Mortero Arteta
He’s definitely building his use of metaphors brick by brick. It’s the second time he’s used this one but it’s clearly been further developed and fleshed out. Just hope Ethan doesn’t take it too literally and comes one day to practice smeared with wet cement asking for Arteta to lay bricks on top of him.
Hopefully he didn’t mean like Poe did in The Cask of Amontillado! Cough cough!
The club is doing a fantastic job of developing him.
I disagree this lad should have played more when Odegaard was out …. But Arteta chose to play with zero creativity as he was to scared to use him
There’s been a lot more at play than creativity. Bogus red cards you’ll never see again and international injuries.
If he had placed all the responsibility on Nwaneri in difficult circumstances, it could have set him back.
This is why he is the boss and you’re just a fan with an unpopular opinion
It’s nice that our young players learn a trade other than football, just in case. But for god’s sake use mortar not cement! Seriously though, Arteta is right, and we shouldn’t rule out his role as an impact or “finisher” sub; especially as Trossard has seemingly made clear he doesn’t want that role and it appears Arteta has listened.
100% correct approach by Mikel and the staff.
He has see both sides to development first hand: overloading a youngster does in Wilshere; talented but run into the ground and never truly recovered. Or slow with Foden who is now a first choice for arguably the greatest team in EPL history.