Martin Odegaard has praised teenage star Ethan Nwaneri, highlighting the midfielder’s maturity and potential after his recent first-team appearances.
Labelled an “extra special talent” by Mikel Arteta, the 17-year-old has proved himself a very useful squad player so far this season, netting three times in the Carabao Cup and once in the league.
Having also burst to prominence as a teenager, you sense Odegaard sees some of himself in Nwaneri and is keen to mentor him through the trials and tribulations of being in the spotlight.
“I’ve been trying to help him in many different ways,” Odegaard said ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Monaco.
“For a young player, sometimes it’s just about helping him be himself to feel natural, and don’t be too much on him, to make it more natural.
He added: “Everyone can see the qualities he has. For him, it’s just about showing that and enjoying [his football] and keep improving all the time.
“He’s doing amazing for his age to play the way he plays with such confidence, with such enthusiasm, eagerness to get on the ball and always show his qualities.
“I’m really, really happy for him and proud of him for what he’s doing. I’m sure there’s a lot more to come because he’s a good boy with a good mentality. He will just get better and better.”
On how his own experience is guiding how he interacts with Arsenal’s youngsters, Odegaard said: “Obviously it was a big change for me to go to [Real] Madrid at 16 years old and I was still a baby when I look back now.
“I just learned what it feels to be a young player in a senior squad and it’s not always the easiest thing, so that’s something I keep in mind now when younger players are coming up to the first team and I know how they feel and just try to help them as much as possible.”
Last week, Arteta revealed that Arsenal had deliberately cleared a path for Nwaneri to play more regularly by sanctioning the sale of Emile Smith Rowe to Fulham and Fabio Vieira’s loan to Porto. His composed performances have since earned comparison to seasoned professionals.
When asked about Nwaneri’s raw talent, Odegaard was equally complimentary but cautious about placing undue pressure on him.
“I don’t want to put too much pressure and too big words on him but he’s an unbelievable player already,” he said.
“I don’t think there’s any reason to speak about the talent because everyone can see that. He’s already a big player. I don’t see him as a talent, I see him as a really good player and that’s a great sign for such a young player.”
Nwaneri made headlines two seasons ago when he became the youngest-ever Premier League debutant at just 15 years and 181 days.
You sense with Odegaard’s guidance and his own level-headedness, there’s a bright future for him at Arsenal. The challenge now is to tie him down to a new long-term contract.
Fabregas –> Wilshere –> Nwaneri (Top, top, top)
Alliadière–> Owusu–>Bendner–>Akpom–>Nketiah (shit, shit, average, average, decent)
What happens to our academy when it comes to strikers?
This Carlos Vela erasure will not stand.
We’ve always been a club of technical midfielders and shifty full backs, at least since Wenger took over. At least it’s looking to be trending up according to your schematic. Don’t forget Balogun who’s also decent.
great, now balogun’s gonna score a hat trick tomorrow all because of you, thanks nacho!!!
He’s injured sadly.
They were all average would be fair critique.
in my perfect world, martinelli decides to dedicate his life to playing age of empires and merino gets sunburnt, so we got to play trossard on the left and nwaneri as a number eight. he goes on a rampart streak scoring 14 goals as arsenal win 19 games in a row. he caps it with a double at the mahoma park, which is what anfield is called now after they had to give salah the stadium as part of his new contract or else everyone would realize they’re actually shit. we get to win the premier league and fatgooner comments… Read more »
Rice, Odegaard, Nwaneri against the ‘smaller’ teams at home is the thing I’d really love to see Arteta try out. Difficult with such congested fixtures but think it could be pretty tasty.