ARSENAL record breaker Ethan Nwaneri is tipped to become the club’s greatest academy products – ahead of Cesc Fabregas and Jack Wilshere.
The teenager became the Premier League’s youngest ever player on Sunday when he came off the bench against Brentford aged just 15 years and 181 days.
Midfielder Nwaneri replaced Fabio Vieira in the 90th minute at the Gtech Community Stadium where the Gunners prevailed 3-0.
The England Under-17 international wasn’t even born when Arsenal swapped Highbury for the Emirates Stadium in 2006.
Despite only making his Arsenal U21 debut at the beginning of September, the youngster was promoted to first-team training last week, with boss Mikel Arteta rewarding him with his debut.
In doing so, he shattered Harvey Elliott’s previous Premier League record of 16 years and 30 days old in 2019 when he featured for Fulham against Wolves.
READ MORE ON ARSENAL
According to the Daily Mail, Arsenal insiders have backed Nwaneri to surpass fellow academy graduates Fabregas and Wilshere in North London.
Former Gunners skipper Fabregas, who was Arsenal’s youngest player prior to Nwaneri, scored 57 goals in 303 games for the club after making his debut in October 2003.
Meanwhile Wilshere, who is the third youngest Arsenal player in history, won two FA Cups from his 197 outings.
Nwaneri has played under the former West Ham man, with Wilshere the current head coach of Arsenal’s U18 side.
latest arsenal news
HOW TO GET FREE BETS ON FOOTBALL
Speaking to the Mail, a source described Nwaneri as a “total footballer” who would shine in any position across the pitch.
The source said: “He’s comfortable wherever you play him. He would be the best player if you played him as a right-back.
“Within 10 minutes he’d adapt to it and be the best player on the pitch. A complete, total footballer.”
It has even been stated that some at Arsenal don’t just believe he is ‘the next one’ from the academy, but THE one.
In his post-match interview after the win over Brentford, Arteta lauded Nwaneri, as he told talkSPORT: “When you look at that boy I have a feeling that he has something special.
“And now he makes a step forward and now maybe he needs ten steps backwards… it’s a nice moment.”
Nwaneri’s team-mate Granit Xhaka has also hailed the youngster, as he remarked: “He has a big future. I am doing my coaching licence and I have trained the under-16s.
READ MORE FOOTBALL STORIES
“You can see a big difference with him and the other guys. He is very, very special.
“You have to protect him as he is very young but if he keeps going like this with his hard work he has a big, big future.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
