Ethan Nwaneri has signed a 5-year contract extension to remain at Arsenal, confirms The Telegraph. The 18-year-old breakout star’s new deal was one of the top priorities for the club heading into the summer, and it’s a massive relief to everyone to get it sorted out. At points, there was concern both within the club and without (among the pundits and us) that the two sides wouldn’t work things out, and the transfer vultures had begun to circle.
The sticking point in the contract negotiations was likely
Nwaneri’s path to regular first team minutes, just my guess. Nwaneri can’t have been happy with how his playing time diminished as the season wore on, especially compared to his usage earlier in the season. The decrease was likely due to a combination of factors, chief among them concern about the soft tissue injury he picked up in January and his defensive acumen not being where it needs to be for Mikel Arteta to be completely comfortable deploying him in high-leverage moments.
I’m sure Nwaneri is happy with whatever plans Arteta has for him for next season and beyond, otherwise I doubt he re-ups in North London. I’d bet the hefty pay-raise I’m assuming he got didn’t hurt things, either.
I’ll be interested to see what, exactly, those plans are for playing time. Arsenal have a bit of a logjam in attack. I can hardly believe I’ve written that sentence. The addition of Noni Madueke means there are more minutes-hungry mouths to feed. The answer may be as simple as more rotation. As we know, injuries derailed Arsenal’s season and the best way to avoid them is to keep players fresher. If Martin Ødegaard and Bukayo Saka play fewer full 90’s, that playing time has to go somewhere, right?
The inclusion of Ødegaard was intentional too — I think we’ll see more of Nwaneri in the right #8 role as an understudy to the Arsenal skipper this year. Mikel Arteta said he thinks that the youngster can play centrally, and his close-control lends itself well to the tighter spaces around the edge of the box in the middle of the pitch.
Keeping Ethan Nwaneri at Arsenal was an absolute must, so kudos to Andrea Berta, Mikel Arteta, and everybody involved for making it happen. He’s one of the brightest young attacking talents in all of Europe. That’s not just homegrown, Arsenal-tinted glasses puffery. Nwaneri’s 11 goal involvements in all competitions were second-best among players 18 and under across the big five leagues in Europe, trailing only Lamine Yamal.
Nwaneri is quite good shooting from the edge of the box, something Arsenal lack among their attackers. He scored two or three of those dribbling right-to-left across the top of the box, curled shot into the far corner goals last season. Having that in the locker forces defenses to come out and play him, which in turn, opens up passing lanes.
Arsenal have arguably the two best English teenagers in the Premier League in Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly both signed through 2030. How ‘effing awesome is that?!
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