“Again? Come on,” Mikel Merino says, with a look that gets across the “seriously guys” sense of it. But there is laughter, too, from the Arsenal midfielder-cum-emergency-centre-forward because he knows this is how it goes, how it has been for some time, pretty much every time he stops to speak to the media after a match.
People want to talk about Ethan Nwaneri; inside the club, outside the club. The buzz around the attacking midfielder as he tore his way through the youth ranks, having joined at nine, was palpable. During the 6-0 win at West Ham last season, the Arsenal substitutes wanted Mikel Arteta to get him on, which he did for the final 13 minutes.
The previous season, Nwaneri had become the Premier League’s youngest player when he made his debut as an 89th-minute substitute in the 3-0 win at Brentford – aged 15 years and 181 days. That was Arteta showing him the pathway would be there for him.
In Eindhoven on Tuesday, everybody wanted to talk about Nwaneri. The 17-year-old’s goal in his team’s 7-1 humbling of PSV in the first-leg of the Champions League last-16 tie was a cracker, showcasing the purity of how he strikes the ball. As the first-time left-foot shot exploded high into the net, the goalkeeper, Walter Benítez, barely had time to blink.
It made Nwaneri, who played on the right wing, the third-youngest to have scored in the Champions League knockout rounds after Bojan Krkic and Jude Bellingham. It brought his tally for Arsenal to eight. Only Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen have scored more goals – nine – for a Premier League club in all competitions before their 18th birthdays. Nwaneri celebrates his on 21 March, after which he will be allowed to get changed in the same dressing room as his senior teammates. At the moment, because of safeguarding reasons, he does so in a separate area.
Rooney was in Eindhoven as a TV pundit and he saw plenty of other stuff to like from Nwaneri. There was the blaze away from Tyrell Malacia to set up Arsenal’s fourth goal, scored by Martin Ødegaard. And how about the run in the 55th minute, slicing up the middle of the pitch, bearing slightly left?
It was trademark Nwaneri, pushing into the correct seams, the ball under his spell, the body shape perfect. The defenders were technically nearby, but at the same time they were far away, no hope of dispossessing him. It was as if he was teasing them. Nwaneri does this a lot. He would work Benítez with the shot.
“I’m joking … I won’t get tired of talking about Ethan,” Merino says. “He is so good, an unbelievable player. I have been saying it for a long time.”
Nwaneri has put his name in the conversation for England, as Thomas Tuchel prepares to pick his first squad on Friday week for the World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia at Wembley. And he has shaken things up at Arsenal to the extent that fans are wondering where he will play when Bukayo Saka returns to fitness. Because Nwaneri has to play. Arteta has mused, unprompted, about maybe using him as a false 9.
What makes Nwaneri such a compelling proposition, first and foremost, is his technique, which takes in his ability to manipulate the ball in tight areas, his balance, how he is so quick to change direction on his dribbles. There is a rare footballing intelligence, the sound decision-making, an appreciation of the spaces. Underpinning it all is his attitude. Nwaneri plays without fear, with a determination to make things happen. He does not seek the safe option. He wants to be direct.
It does not feel wrong to ask Merino about a comparison to Lamine Yamal, albeit the Barcelona and Spain prodigy is further along in his development. Lamine, who turns 18 in July, has 18 goals and 23 assists in 86 appearances for his club; three goals and eight assists in 17 games for his country. Merino, who is 28, played alongside him during Spain’s victorious Euro 2024 campaign.
“I am getting older, it’s kind of depressing,” Merino says with a smile. “I used to be one of the youngest on the pitch and now, when I check the teams, I find that everyone is younger than me. But football evolves and nowadays players come up to the first team even more ready to play at the highest level. They have better tools to learn and it’s great to have these young kids.
“My role is now more of a teacher. I can show some of my experience to them and the good thing is they are keen to learn.
“With Ethan, it’s not only about how good he is on the pitch. It’s also about his will, the intensity he puts into every single training day, the way he faces every game with the maturity that he has. He is not 17 years old, playing in the Premier League and Champions League, thinking he has already learned everything. He is always willing to listen to the other guys, listen to the boss and that’s credit to him.”
