Arsenal do not want to sell Ethan Nwaneri this summer and would prefer to send one of their most promising teenage talents out on loan, according to the BBC.
The England Under-21 international’s career stagnated last season after enduring a difficult loan spell at Marseille. Sent to the Ligue 1 club in the hope of gaining regular first team experience, Nwaneri began promisingly, scoring on his debut, but Roberto De Zerbi’s sudden departure spelled disaster. The 19-year-old struggled to win the faith of the current Tottenham head coach’s successor, Habib Beye, and ultimately made just nine appearances during his time in France.
Arteta hints at difficult decision
Nwaneri returned to his parent club in the summer, determined to convince Mikel Arteta he was worthy of a first team place, and appeared to be making good progress in pre-season. His omission from the matchday squad last Sunday as Arsenal swept to a 3-0 Community Shield win against Manchester City suggested his future lay elsewhere.
Speaking ahead of that fixture, Arteta hinted a difficult decision needed to be made. ‘I want him to be at the club. But we have to think about the medium and long term,’ Arteta said. ‘What is best for the player? Ethan needs to play football. If he stays here, we must be able to guarantee him those minutes, otherwise it won’t be beneficial for either side.’
Club stance and potential offers
According to the BBC, however, Arsenal are now determined to keep hold of Nwaneri, even if it means loaning him out again. Galatasaray and Borussia Dortmund have both been linked with the attacking midfielder whose path into the Arsenal first team is currently blocked by Martin Odegaard, Eberechi Eze and Mikel Merino.
If Arsenal were to receive an offer significantly above their valuation then the picture could change as outlined by CEO Richard Garlick.
Garlick on academy graduates
Speaking about Nwaneri’s situation, and that of his fellow Hale End Academy graduate Myles Lewis-Skelly, who has been linked with Manchester United and Chelsea, Garlick told talkSPORT: ‘Obviously there may be speculation, I’m not going to go into that from other clubs but we’re very happy with Myles and the position he’s in at the club.’
In a subsequent interview with the BBC, Garlick added: ‘We obviously believe in our academy and have been very successful with the players that have come through that academy, Myles and Ethan being two of those. Everybody loves to see those homegrown players coming through and pulling on the shirt and contributing to the success of the team. It’s not something that we aim to just sell only homegrown players, as I say trading players is something that comes up all the time. There’s been a lot of speculation surrounding players. I can’t stop other clubs being interested in our players.
‘I think Myles has had a fantastic end to last season and he’s started this season really well and we are very very happy with him. Ethan’s had a great pre-season as well and it’s just a case of looking at what opportunities there are that will help both of those players in terms of their careers moving forwards but we are not actively looking at selling those homegrown players. If the right opportunity came up and it was right for them and it was right for the club then we’d obviously consider that.’
