Arsenal have agreed to a season-long dry loan to send Ethan Nwaneri to Borussia Dortmund, confirms The Athletic. The German side explored the possibility of a full buy last summer, but the Gunners weren’t interested in selling the Hale End graduate. They opted to keep Nwaneri in North London for the fall before sending him on loan to Marseille in January. As we know, that went poorly. Roberto de Zerbi, the manager who signed him on loan, left the club a few weeks after Nwaneri joined.
Hopefully things
go better for Ethan in Germany this season. You’d expect them to. Dortmund have a strong track record of developing young players. It’s easy to forget Nwaneri is still just 19-years-old — he’s been around the Arsenal first team for so long.
Arsenal had been hoping to find a loan destination for the young midfielder this season. Mikel Arteta said as much (more than once) in press conferences while speaking highly of Nwaneri’s qualities both on the pitch and as a young man.
The move to Dortmund is an unexpected but welcome opportunity for all parties. Okay, slightly less welcome for Dortmund because it was prompted as a response to new attacking signing Giannis Konstantelias tearing his ACL. But getting a player they like, as evidence by last summer’s pursuit, is a pretty good forced move. From Nwaneri and Arsenal’s perspectives, it’s great. He’ll have a chance to play significant minutes in a top league for a CL club that has a reputation for trusting young players. Nwaneri almost certainly knows Jobe Bellingham (Jude’s 20-year-old younger brother, currently at Dortmund), who should help him acclimate to the club.
It’s a dry loan, so Nwaneri will return to North London next summer. If all goes well, he’ll be much better placed to earn a spot in the Arsenal first team or have put together a compelling highlight reel that will make him a more attractive target for other clubs. If he has a good season, you’d expect Dortmund to be at least interested in negotiating a permanent move. If it doesn’t work out, well, we can cross that bridge if we come to it.
He’s a talented player. He just needs minutes. It should be great. Smash it in Germany, Ethan!
