Ethan Nwaneri announced himself to the world by becoming the youngest player in Premier League history when he made his top-flight debut as a substitute aged 15 years and 181 days at Brentford in 2022.
On Wednesday night the Arsenal academy graduate was in action again at the Gtech Community Stadium, this time making his first full Premier League start for the Gunners.
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And aged 17 years and 286 days, Nwaneri became the third-youngest player ever to start a Premier League match for Arsenal, after Cesc Fabregas (17y 103d v Everton in August 2004) and Theo Walcott (17y 212d v Watford in October 2006).
And the quality of the now 17-year-old winger's performance justified manager Mikel Arteta's decision to hand Nwaneri his chance in the absence of Bukayo Saka (hamstring) and Kai Havertz (illness).
"That position wasn’t because of a bug, that was a decision we made because I thought he was the best player to play in the position to start the game and because there was a story there, with his debut here," said Arteta.
"He made his Premier League debut and sometimes that feeling comes in and you feel it’s the right one and who knows.
"He was really good. In training he gives us all the right reasons [to play]. We could've signed a player from any country, he would be playing.
"We’re building him, he’s already played a lot of games a lot of minutes for the age that he’s got and he fully deserves that."
'A really exciting prospect'
Nwaneri's performance in the absence of fellow winger Saka caught the eye of pundits Martin Keown and Karen Carney, who were lavish in their praise of the Hale End graduate.
"Ethan Nwaneri is definitely going to get those chances with Bukayo Saka not being available," said Keown, a three-times title-winner with Arsenal.
"It's all there under the bonnet waiting to come out. This is a really exciting prospect for Arsenal. Another kid out of the academy.
"It's really important that you have those players in the group demonstrating the quality coming through the academy."
Described as "brave and bold", Nwaneri, who is the ninth-youngest goalscorer in Premier League history having netted the third goal in Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest in November, has all the attributes to go far according to Carney.
"He just makes me smile. He's brave, he's bold," she said. "For someone so young as well, he jinks and drops a shoulder.
"For a young man, I thought he was outstanding, he was positive and he was just a joy to watch.
"He will be an absolute player for Arsenal."
