Ethan Nwaneri, a promising young player for Arsenal, has broken the record for becoming the league’s youngest player ever. He made his debut on Sunday during Arsenal’s 3-0 demolition of Brentford at the latter’s stadium.
Nwaneri, who was born in 2007 to Nigerian parents, made his debut for the gunners 90 minutes into the game at Gtech Community Stadium. He was 15 years and 181 days old at the time. After making an impression with the club’s U-18 and U-21 sides, the offensive midfielder was promoted to the Arsenal main squad this week.
Nwaneri, who played for England’s U-16 team and has one appearance with the U-17s, has four goals and four assists this season with the U-18s and U-21s. He could possibly be qualified to play for Nigeria as a prospect.
The child broke Harvey Elliot of Liverpool’s 16 years, 30 days record as the youngest player in the English Premier League and Arsenal’s 16 years, 5 months record-holder Cesc Fabregas.
As Nwaneri came on the field, Arsenal supporters could be heard yelling, “You’ve got school in the morning,”. This happened as Arsenal had just reclaimed first place in the standings.
Nwaneri was supposed to spend the whole season with the Arsenal U-18s, but because to his standout performances, he was soon promoted to the Under-21s.
Oleksandr Zinchenko and Martin Odegaard’s injuries had left Mikel Arteta, the manager of Arsenal, without many choices in the middle of the field.
“We are pretty short and opportunities come when issues arise,” said Arteta, “We have the opportunities to bring young players on.”
Nwaneri made headlines last year when he scored on his debut for the U-18s as a 14-year-old.