Mikel Arteta substituted 16-year-old Ethan Nwaneri into the London Stadium while Arsenal led West Ham 6-0. Nwaneri was a product of Hale End.
Due to the significant margin held by his team, Mikel Arteta requested that Arsenal’s underutilized substitutes accumulate minutes in the league. Abdul Elneny, Eddie Nketiah, and Reiss Nelson comprised his initial three substitutes. After ten minutes, he replaced the seasoned Cedric Soares with Ethan Nwaneri, who was sixteen years old.Nwaneri made his debut for Arsenal in their 3-0 victory over Thomas Frank’s Brentford, despite his youth. The English midfielder surpassed Cesc Fabregas’ previous record for the youngest Premier League player ever at 15 years and 181 days of age.Mikel Arteta disclosed the rationale behind his 92nd-minute substitution of Nwaneri at the Gtech Community Stadium: “It was an instinctive decision.” Upon meeting the child, I was immediately captivated by his appearance. Edu, as well as Per Mertesacker and the academy personnel, are providing me with extremely useful information.”
Recently, Arteta’s ineffective management of his juvenile talent has garnered criticism, and supporters are concerned that their potential will be lost to rival clubs. Consequently, on Sunday, supporters were pleased to see Nwaneri’s number on the substitution board, and the Englishman’s lengthy cameo was impressive.Arteta explained Nwaneri’s substitution after his squad’s rout of the reigning UEFA Conference League champions: “It’s encouraging to hear that the players on the bench were whispering to bring Ethan on.”Subsequently, following his appearance, Nwaneri uploaded a carousel of images from the fixture to Instagram. In the remarks, Aaron Ramsdale, the goalkeeper for Arsenal, disclosed that it was Jorginho, an accomplished midfielder, who requested the player to enter the game from the sideline.
Following his outstanding performance against Liverpool the previous weekend, Jorginho reinjured a pre-existing foot injury and was consequently substituted for the London derby. However, the Italian earned his UEFA B coaching license during the week after coaching the Arsenal under-14s, and it is conceivable that Jorginho was motivated by the success of the youngsters in the first team.