Ethan Nwaneri faces a big summer with his future at Arsenal in the balance
The Arsenal fan base has gone through an incredible season, one that has seen behaviour from sections of the fan base that spans the entire spectrum. From the celebrations of the title win in May, coming at the end of a season that started with thousands online signing a petition of discontent at the arrival of Noni Madueke.
Even graffitiing Hornsea Road in response to the former Chelsea man’s arrival. Awful, terrible and unacceptable and hopefully lessons have been learned.
Taking an analytical look at those concerns, and disregarding the extreme and sadly abusive nature of some, Madueke has not yet fulfilled what was hoped of him. Three Premier League goals and one assist in 26 appearances, over 1200 minutes for the country’s best club this season.
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A better return in Europe and the cups, ending the season with eight goals and four assists in 43 games. The frustration for some with Madueke, beyond the lingering Chelsea label, was that the move effectively ended Ethan Nwaneri’s future as a right winger at Arsenal.
football.london understood that the player came close to leaving in the summer for Borussia Dortmund before being convinced instead to sign a new contract. With indications he would be seen as a more central player.
When the deal was renewed, existing talks for Eberechi Eze were even dialled back until Kai Havertz’s injury, which prompted a major acceleration on the move. Nwaneri made just six Premier League appearances, amassing less than 170 minutes of football before leaving in January on loan to Marseille.
His only goal of the season for Arsenal was a fantastic finish against Brighton in the League Cup. For Marseille, he would start in frightening form, a great goal on his debut.
But the exit of Roberto De Zerbi and the arrival of Habib Beye sadly hindered his opportunities, which clearly impacted him. Beye even came out to publicly scrutinise the youngster’s application.
“He’s a quality player, but he has to give us way more in his day-to-day commitment,” he told French media. “Other players gave way more.“
There is no denying Nwaneri’s talent, and he returned three goals and one assist this season from less than 1000 minutes of football, the majority of which were substitute appearances – 23 games played.
Arsenal paid more than £40million for Madueke, and the reality is they might have got more from Nwaneri in the same season, with more faith given to the youngster. Now a decision has to be made, and the likelihood is that a sale could again come forward.
The temptation of pure profit, which can be reinvested. But I cannot help but think that the club would be making a mistake losing this talent.
If you asked me who I would want given the opportunity in place of Bukayo Saka, either through a substitution, due to injury, or rotation, it is Nwaneri over Madueke. Sadly, I cannot see that being the case.
