Arsenal coach blown away by how well 16-year-old attacker played yesterday

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Arsenal Under-21 coach Mehmet Ali has admitted he was really impressed with youngster Ethan Nwaneri yesterday.

Ali was speaking to The Athletic after his side defeated Swindon Town in the EFL Trophy last night.

The competition is made up of a mixture of League 1 and 2 teams alongside the best academies in England.

It gives the best young players in the country a chance to play against senior opponents on a more regular basis.

For many of Arsenal’s academy players, this will be their first exposure to playing the men’s game.

Arsenal have a seriously exciting crop of talent coming through right now.

Last season’s Under-18 side reached the final of the FA Youth Cup and already several players from that side are being closely watched by Mikel Arteta.

One such player is Ethan Nwaneri – who has already made his Arsenal debut – and Mehmet Ali gave him a glowing review after yesterday’s match.

The teenager provided moments of brilliance playing in midfield, setting up Lino Sousa for Arsenal’s first goal.

Ali amazed by Arsenal wonderkid Nwaneri

When speaking about the 16-year-old after the match, Ali said: “He’s got an exceptional talent and our job is to really support him.

“Playing as a ‘pocket’ player, who can hold his position, sometimes coming deeper or wider but really understanding that role is important for him.

“Good players can play in any position. When you have a talent like Ethan, and all the boys we work with, we’ve got to help them at this age to understand their job description.

“What is it that’s going to help them break through to the first team? With Ethan, we’ve done a lot of work on his positioning, game understanding and scoring goals.

“We do a lot of work on players’ characteristics in the position they play.”

Ali has the exciting task of preparing Nwaneri for an eventual step up to the Arsenal first team.

It looked as if he might leave in the summer before signing scholarship terms, but he ended up committing his future to the Gunners.

There are no plans for Nwaneri to leave on loan this season and so the EFL Trophy is likely going to be his main source of playing against senior opponents.

However, it’s not completely out of the question that he makes another appearance for the first team before the end of the season.