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Ethan Nwaneri is flying the flag for Arsenal's academy - but is he ready to deliver in the Premier League?
Analysis
It is now more than 30 years since Match Of The Day pundit Alan Hansen uttered the immortal words: "You can't win anything with kids".
It was August 1995, and the former Liverpool and Scotland defender had just witnessed a Manchester United side featuring Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, Gary and Phil Neville and David Beckham lose 3-1 to Aston Villa. Yet by the end of the season, Hansen was made to eat his words as "Fergie's Fledglings", as they came to be known, reclaimed the Premier League title.
Perhaps it is fitting, then, that shortly after the 30-year anniversary of that infamous phrase, records are being broken for the number of young players involved in the Premier League.
In short, England's top flight is younger than it's ever been.
Last season, the average age of starting XIs in the league was 26 years and 217 days, breaking the record set in 2007-08 by three days. By early October, this season's average had dropped below 26 years old.
In part, this can be explained by the number of teenagers that are active in the league, with 24 of them making at least one appearance before the October international break. Some, like Estevao, Lucas Bergvall, Leny Yoro and Stefanos Tzimas, are expensive recruits from abroad. Others, such as Archie Gray and Tyler Dibling were high-profile domestic signings, while the likes of Josh King, Josh Acheampong and Lewis Miley are academy graduates that have broken into the first team.
None of them, though, have been Premier League players for as long as Ethan Nwaneri.
The Hale End graduate made his league debut in September 2022, aged 15 years and 181 days, breaking a host of records in the process. He was not only the youngest player in Arsenal's history, nor just the youngest-ever Premier League player, he also broke a 58-year record previously held by ex-Sunderland goalkeeper Derek Forster as the youngest footballer in English top-flight history. Just to make Gunners fans feel even older, he is also the first player born after the building of the Emirates Stadium to represent them.
Three years on, having just signed a new contract keeping him at the club until 2030, he is reflecting on his first season as a first-team regular.
"It was good" Nwaneri says of the 2024-25 campaign, in which he played 37 games and scored nine goals in all competitions. "Obviously I wanted more, like always. I was aiming for ten goals but I was close to it. I think it was a good first season.
"Before each season, I can see where I'm going to be at the end of the season. I've always had that ability to see and visualise where I want to be and put my mind towards it. I wasn't really surprised [at his progress]. Now it's just what's the next step and what do I need to do to get to where I want to be?"
In the past, Nwaneri's early career figures might be considered prodigious.
But these days, such beginnings are becoming if not the norm then certainly far more common. Lamine Yamal was born four months after the Arsenal starlet and is already a Ballon d'Or runner-up; Estevao is a month younger than Nwaneri and has seven caps for Brazil, while 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha has contributed to dramatic late wins for Liverpool against Newcastle United and Burnley this season. Closer to home Myles Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri's long-term friend and academy team-mate, is already a well-established first-team player and England international, while Max Dowman may well be a first-team rival soon after he became the second 15-year-old to play for Arsenal.
None of this is to say that Nwaneri is underperforming, but simply that the bar has been raised for young footballer In the modern game, age is no barrier to a player's first-team credentials. A player with the elite education of a top-class academy combined with the fearlessness of youth is an attractive option for managers.
Nwaneri may have only been allowed to get changed in the same dressing room as his team-mates since March when he turned 18, but he already feels at home. And he's certainly not fazed by the extra pressure or attention that playing for a big club like Arsenal brings "It's been fine, honestly, he says of adapting to the first team. "It's part of becoming a man, I think. You have to deal with whatever comes your way, whether it's good or bad. One thing I realised is that they [his team-mates] have all been where we've been. We've all been kids", he adds.
"These guys are so good at understanding all that and they make it really comfortable. So it's been fine, it's been good."
It has been a relatively slow start to the current campaign in terms of opportunities for Nwaneri, whose only start in the first couple of months came in a League Cup tie away to Port Vale.
But there are two factors that should open up more game time: firstly his versatility, and secondly the continued injury problems of senior players like Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Noni Madueke.
"You can see sometimes l'm a natural midfielder, he says when asked what his best position is, "but I think if the manager wants you to play in a position, you have to do it to the best of your abilities.
I don't mind playing on the right...l've played false nine before - quite a few times, actually. I think I can do a role anywhere that the manager needs me.
"I want to play forward. I want to be a positive player. One that affects the game, that can control the game, that scores goals. That's just the way I play."
It was while playing on the right that he enjoyed the highlight of his young Arsenal career, cutting inside and curling a crisp finish past Manchester City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega during the Gunners' 5-1 thrashing of Pep Guardiola's side last season. It is a finish that he has honed over years of practice.
"I've always played more on the right, so l've always kind of been cutting in on my left foot, so l've just developed over the years" he says with a shrug. "I knew I'd do something if I got the ball. Then Declan ]Rice] luckily saw me. You don't really think, you just do it. You think about it afterwards."
It is a rare admission of confidence from a humble young player who is still finding his way in the game. Even Omari Hutchinson, a friend, former Arsenal academy graduate and an England Under-21 team-mate during the summer, has told him that he needs to "believe that he's the guy" more often.
"I just want to play. Whatever comes will come. I think that's the best way to be. I don't really think about all the outside, just doing as much as I can on the pitch."
He is similarly relaxed about his own game time. His manager, Mikel Arteta, was recently asked about leaving out Nwaneri, and explained that given the depth at his disposal some players will have to spend time on the sidelines.
"Some of them are going to start, some of them are going to finish the game, some of them are going to be on the bench and won't be participating and some of them, unfortunately, are going to be out of the squad because with the Premier League you have the limitation with the numbers" said the Gunners boss. But, based on Nwaneri's reaction to facing similar challenges last season, that doesn't seem to bother him.
"Going from playing quite a lot to not playing as much - I think it's normal in football, so I don't really take it to heart, he says.
"I understand Mikel's got a decision to make at the end of the day and it's hard for him to make. He obviously wants to include everyone but he can't.
"I think it's part of football and it's those times that can really define where you're going to be. I think I've dealt with it well. I'm in a good place mentally and physically."
There is a sense that the youngster has complete trust in his manager, that whatever he believes is best must be so.
"There's a lot to learn from Mikel. If you ever met him, you'd see how intense he is. How he's so good with his words and he knows what he's saying. I think there's so much to learn, not even just tactically - mentally, and all of that stuff. On a personal level, as well, he's helped me a lot. He's elevated my game, definitely.
"He's really big on body language and the way that he presents himself. He puts that onto me. Before, maybe just the way that I'd walk or slouch a bit or just the way l'd be sitting, but he's onto everything. That's helped me just sharpen up in my mind and it's helped me a lot."
In the summer, Nwaneri was the youngest member of the England Under-21 side that triumphed in the European Championship in Romania.
Though mostly used from the bench, he did play in all six matches including the last half hour of the final.
He will still be eligible for the next edition of the competition in 2027, and is likely to be one of the key players - unless he has become established in the senior squad by then. Bookmakers rate his chances of being selected for next summer's World Cup squad at around 10/1, although competition for places will be fierce.
Indeed, when asked if making it to North America is among his objectives for next year, he says: "Yes, but in the same way it will be for everyone."
For now, of course, his first priority is more minutes with his club. He is, along with Lewis-Skelly and Dowman, one of the poster boys for the next generation of young Arsenal talent. Saka, a role model to them all, is an example of what Hale End products can achieve.
"Bukayo is a great person. He's an even better player. Honestly, there's so much I can learn. He's a player that you just need to watch to learn from and take from his game. I think he's helped me so much in that respect."
The prospect of Nwaneri lining up with his idol to the side of him, his best mate Lewis-Skelly behind him and his understudy Dowman to the other side is an exciting one - and could yet serve as another riposte to Hansen's infamous dismissal of young players if Arsenal can finally reclaim the Premier League title.
"I'm extremely excited. I think there's a lot to come."
Words by Matt Read and Jamie Evans.
