Arsenal Ties 18-Year-Old Midfielder Ethan Nwaneri On A Long Contract

Midfielder Ethan Nwaneri has received a new contract from Arsenal. (Arsenal.com)

JAKARTA - Arsenal does not want to lose valuable assets that are still 18 years old. Yes, Arsenal extended midfielder Ethan Nwaneri's contract with a long duration of five years.

Nwaneri's contract extension is Arsenal's priority. After completing the new contract for Bukayo Saka, Gabriel, Myles Lewis-Skelly and William Saliba, Arsenal then tied Nwaneri until 2030.

Arsenal have many reasons to give long contracts to players who have strengthened the England U-17 national team and competed in the 2023 U-17 World Cup in Indonesia.

Nwaneri is clearly a talented young player who has been targeted by a number of top clubs. One of them is Chelsea who wants to bring Nwaneri from North London to West London.

Lebih dari itu, Nwaneri merupakan produk asli Arsenal. Dirinya lahir dan besar di Enfield, sebuah wilayah yang cukup luas dan besar di London Utara. Bahkan Nwaneri yang sebenarnya bisa memperkuat timnas Nigeria dari garis kedaran orang tuanya ini sudah masuk academia Arsenal saat dia berusia delapan tahun.

Nwaneri also pursued a professional career starting from the Arsenal junior team until finally breaking into the first team in 2022. At that time he was very young, 15 years old.

At the same age plus 181 days, he became the youngest player in Premier League history to break Harvey Elliot's record when he was fielded as a substitute against Brentford.

Nwaneri also broke the record for the youngest player in the league after beating Derek Foster, Southampton goalkeeper. Meanwhile at Arsenal, he broke the record of 16-year-old Cesc Fabregas.

Nwaneri himself skyrocketed while replacing Saka, who suffered a hamstring injury last December. He ended up playing 37 times and 16 of them as a starter. Nwaneri also showed his ability to break into the opponent's goal by scoring nine goals.

He was also happy after receiving permanent certainty at the Emirates for the next five years.

" SIGNing the contract, this is everything for me. This reminds me of the defending season in the senior team [first team] and being part of the squad in the dressing room," said Nwaneri.

"I am very happy with what I can bring for the team. Of course I want to win as many matches as possible and bring happiness to the club," he said.

Nwaneri himself will change to the jersey number. Previously he wore the number 53 which is now the number 22. The jersey number was previously owned by goalkeeper David Raya who got the number one.