Playing in the Premier League at 15? A reality for Ethan Nwaneri from Sunday

Sunday’s game at Brentford brought one very pleasant surprise for Arsenal London fans besides the important three points in the Premier League table. Only fifteen-year-old talent of the Gunners academy Ethan Nwaneri got his first minutes among the English league’s elite. Who is he?

The match itself was just finishing, Arsenal were leading 3: 0 and the victory of Arteta’s team was decided, allowing Xhaka and co to enjoy the first place in the EPL table.

The 92nd minute was on the scoreboard and the Spanish manager of the visitors from the Emirates Stadium decided to make a double substitution. First of all, he sent Marquinhos on the pitch for a minute, but most importantly, he let young Ethan Nwaneri out on the Brentford Community Stadium grass.

Nwaneri has seen a meteoric rise over the last few months. The U18 international started the current season in the U18 category, but impressed enough in pre-season training to be moved up to the U21 category, from where coach Arteta has pulled him into the A-team training process.

The youngster Nwaneri surpassed Cesc Fabregas as the club’s youngest debutant to date. The Spanish midfielder and former Gunners captain made his debut at 16 years, 5 months and 24 days.

With his participation in Sunday’s match-winning goal, he became the youngest debutant in Premier League history at the age of 15 years, 5 months and 23 days, surpassing Liverpool’s Harvey Elliot. Until last week, he was the youngest player ever to play in the English league (16 years and 30 days).

While this is happy news for fans in the red part of London, it says something about the breadth of Mikel Arteta’s squad. It doesn’t seem to be the ideal to have a hole in the roster glued by a 15-year-old. It may be evidence of the breathtaking quality of the young footballer, of course, but it may also be evidence of the lack of breadth and quality in Arsenal’s squad.

Either way, young Ethan’s childhood dream has come true and one can expect to see a similarly young footballer on England’s professional turf.

Source: Goal, Livesport