In his first week on the job at Arsenal, Mikel Arteta summoned Under-16s coach Dan Micciche to his office. The pair exchanged pleasantries in Italian, before Arteta turned to business and said “so, I hear you’ve got a player for me…”
The Spaniard had been told by Edu of a 12-year-old making waves in the Under-16s team and wanted to hear more for himself. Prior to joining Arsenal, Micciche had worked at the FA and used Phil Foden and Cole Palmer as reference points to describe the potential of this versatile pre-teen. With his interest suitably piqued, Arteta asked Micciche to compile a video compilation of the wonderkid. His name: Ethan Nwaneri.
For most, Nwaneri would have popped on to the radar when he became the youngest player in Premier League history 2022. At Arsenal, though, they’ve known they have something special for a lot longer.
After a full season with the Under-16s at just 13-years-old, Nwaneri began playing up at Under-18s level he was 14. This in itself is not always the guarantee of quality it would seem. In such a transformative time of their lives, many players will play up an age group or two if they experience earlier physical development than their peers. With Nwaneri, however, there was another trait which stood out.
“His biggest quality was his decision making,” Micciche tells football.london. “I remember saying to Luke Hobbs [Arsenal’s head of academy coaching], Per Mertesacker [the head of Arsenal’s academy] and Lee Herron [Arsenal academy’s head of operations] when I was pushing for him to be playing in the Under-18s as a 14-year-old, that he would become the youngest player to play in our first team and he did.
“When I worked for the FA with Phil Foden and the likes of that – at that age, for me, he was as good as that. I would have him in that similar bracket to Jadon Sancho, Marcus Edwards or Fabio Carvalho. He was similar, if not better at other things than them.”
With the potential not in doubt, the question now for Arsenal was how best to realise it. Even at 14, Nwaneri was already straining the boundaries of the progression being afforded to him. There was talk of fielding him in the FA Youth Cup there and then, but age restrictions rendered that impossible.
Instead, Arsenal set about creating a tailor-made plan to get the best from Nwaneri. His ability to train with the Under-18s was limited to Friday afternoons when he was allowed to leave school early. With this in mind, he began working with youth coach Danny Buck on his ball mastery and did hours of specific drills on reacting to fast-paced in-game situations. On the pitch Arsenal looked to avoid playing him at a level where he could dominate with ease and instead opted to pick and choose specific fixtures against top tier academies that would provide the biggest possible test.
By 15 he had made his debut for the Under-21s, and just a few months later he made his first team bow at Brentford. That last step could easily have been a shock to the system, but Arsenal work hard to ensure the transition to the first team is a smooth one for their academy players.
“On [Nwaneri’s] first day [at London Colney] we were showing them around the gym and they got called over by the first team and they made a bit of a fuss of him,” Micciche recalls. “Going to London Colney for the first time can be overwhelming when they’re seeing Premier League stars in front of them which is a big thing. But it was a nice gesture that helped to settle him down a bit.”
The academy players will work out in that same gym alongside the first team on a regular basis and eat in the same canteen. It is all part of an atmosphere of unity that Arteta has sought to create across the club since his arrival.
Even after his record-breaking debut, though, there has been plenty of work to do for Nwaneri’s development. Mertesacker is understood to have been key here for ensuring that his feet stay close to the ground.
Despite interest from clubs across the Premier League, Nwaneri – who grew up just a short journey from the Emirates Stadium in Archway – committed to professional terms with Arsenal in March. Since then he has been regularly in and around the first team, and will often receive feedback from Arteta’s assistant Albert Stuivenberg on his progression.
For all the nurture that has gone into Nwaneri’s development though, there is an element of nature that has allowed him to get as far as he has. This is not just in terms of his ability, but his character too.
The first thing that tends to come up when speaking to anyone about Nwaneri is his humble approach. The teenager was moved around a number of positions and formations during his time in the academy, but is understood to have never complained. He has a stable family behind him who are thought to be key to this personality. Academy sources have spoken of how trusting his parents have been of their decisions in his development. Their relationship with the club is described as one of collaboration.
From a young age Nwaneri has also been a student of the game. One of Mertesacker’s four pillars for his academy vision is that Arsenal players are ‘life long learners.’ Nwaneri embodies this approach. At just 14 he is understood to have asked coaches to compile clips of academy graduates like Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson, to see what qualities had enabled them to progress into the first team. Such dedication is rare to find at such a young age.
That has continued as he has grown up. While many 17-year-olds may have spent their summers trying to sneak into pubs, Nwaneri spent part of his time off working at a training camp in Portugal to ensure he was ready to come back for Arsenal’s pre-season tour of the United States in top condition.
Even now, as he sits on the cusp of a full first team debut, Nwaneri is refusing to rest on his laurels and is sponging up as much advice as he can from his coaches and teammates. “Those two are really pushy and demanding!” Arteta joked about Nwaneri and his fellow Hale Ender Myles Lewis-Skelly. “They want to see everything. They want more and more information. They love it and you can tell they are so passionate about it. They see the opportunity and want to grab it with both hands. They are great to work with.”
Surely even as he watched that video five years ago, Arteta could not have expected to be working with Nwaneri so quickly. Yet the 17-year-old’s rapid progression is testament to years of work by club and player. Regardless of whether he makes his much-expected full debut in the Carabao Cup against Bolton or not, there is little sign that will be stopping any time soon.
