Mikel Arteta heaped praise on Ethan Nwaneri’s delightful performance as the 17-year-old netted a superb goal in Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Preston in the Carabao Cup.
After Gabriel Jesus’s first goal since January put Arsenal on their way to the quarter-final, the teenager scored a beautiful first-half goal. Kai Havertz, the substitute, then added the third early in the second half.
Nwaneri, an academy product who scored two goals in Arsenal’s 5-1 victory over Bolton in the previous round to earn his first senior goals, put on another impressive Carabao Cup showing. At Deepdale, he may have had two as well, but a late effort struck the crossbar.
“He did it yesterday in training too, so we’re getting used to that,” the Arsenal boss said as reported by the Daily Mail.
“He’s a big talent, he’s got the right attitude, he’s got the right players and context around him and we need to make sure that we put brick by brick in the right tempo, in the right order, but we have some player there.”
At the age of 15 and 181 days, Nwaneri became the youngest player in the Premier League two years ago when he came off the bench against Brentford.
See Also: Slot Sends Bold Gakpo Message Following Liverpool Win At Brighton
The youngster now appears prepared to assume a much bigger role after making four short substitute appearances in the league so far this season.
“He’s going to really dictate how fast that’s going to go, but I’m really, really happy with him,” Arteta added.
COMMENTS