Few terms in football are more widely overused than ‘generational talent’ but Ethan Nwaneri warrants that billing. The 18-year-old has been one of the breakthrough stars of the English Premier League season after earning a glowing reputation as he progressed through Arsenal’s Hale End academy. In September, Nwaneri became the youngest player in Premier League history when he debuted against Brentford, aged just 15 years and 181 days. While that fleeting appearance brought the youngster to light, Nwaneri truly showcased his prodigious talent this season.
The England U21 international netted his first senior goals with a brace against Bolton in the League Cup third round and he followed that with a superb strike in the following round against Preston. Nwaneri became the ninth youngster scorer in Premier League history with his first league goal against Nottingham Forest in November. The Arsenal star was contributing regularly in the early months of 2025 and his goal against PSV in the last 16 of the Champions League made him the third youngest scorer in the knockout stages of UEFA’s premier club competition. But the 18-year-old has been starved of minutes across recent weeks, so why isn’t Mikel Arteta utilising Nwaneri
Arteta has been notoriously cautious over blooding youngsters into the first-team during his tenure as Arsenal manager and Nwaneri only made his first Premier League start against Brentford on New Year’s Day in 2025. His first Champions League start also arrived in January and he made five consecutive starts in the Premier League between February and March. Arteta’s willingness to hand Nwaneri so much gametime was not only influenced by his impressive performances but also by injury to Bukayo Saka. The majority of his minutes this season have been at right-wing but his long-term future could feasibly be as an attacking midfielder in a more central role.
As the graphic above illustrates, the hype around Nwaneri was reflected by his market value increasing by €47 million across the course of the season. The Arsenal star is now the joint-third most valuable U18 player in the world behind Barcelona duo Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí and level with incoming Chelsea signings Estêvão. But Nwaneri’s total minutes in all competitions of (1,303’) are significantly lower than the other most valuable U18 players and his recent exclusion has been questioned by Arsenal supporters. Since Saka returned and replaced the youngster against Fulham on April 1st, Nwaneri has only started twice in 11 games.
According to Transfermarkt data, Nwaneri has only played 42 minutes in Arsenal’s last eight games, which equates to just 5.8% of the possible game time. The majority of those arrived against Ipswich when Nwaneri was afforded 33 minutes from the bench and he’s been left on the bench in four of Arsenal’s last eight games. Arteta’s decision not to introduce Nwaneri when Arsenal needed a goal in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final against PSG received the most criticism and that was exacerbated by the Spaniard introducing two defenders in Ben White and Riccardo Calafiori.
So why hasn’t Arteta been using Nwaneri? Ben Littlemore, UK Content Manager and Arsenal supporter, believes the Gunners boss is trying to keep Nwaneri grounded. “Arteta is usually quite cautious with giving young players too much too soon, and the exception with Myles Lewis-Skelly speaks volumes of his character at just 18 years old,” Littlemore said. “There has been some frustration from sections of Arsenal fans that Nwaneri hasn’t received more minutes in recent games such as their Champions League semi-final vs PSG, but I feel Arteta is very wary of keeping Nwaneri grounded. I also feel he will eventually end up being a midfield player playing more centrally. He is still a huge part of Arsenal’s future plans and was recently given a new squad number (22) for next season, but similarly to Phil Foden at Man City, he may have to be patient to become a first-team regular starter at the Emirates.
The comparison to Lewis-Skelly is incredibly pertinent as the fellow Hale End graduate is roughly the same age as Nwaneri, yet he’s been entrusted in the biggest games. It’s imperative to highlight that Lewis-Skelly’s temperament is one of his biggest strengths but the disparity between the two youngster’s recent minutes have raised eyebrows. The versatile attacker is expected to play a bigger role next season but with Arsenal expected to make additions to their attacking options, how often Arteta uses Nwaneri next season will be fascinating
