Mikel Arteta has been working on the ‘next Phil Foden’, (Image: Getty)
boss was told he had the ‘next ’ in the club’s ranks during his first week at the Emirates Stadium.
It’s been a rocky road for Arteta, who had to bat away calls for him to be sacked in the early part of his tenure.
Lifting the FA Cup in 2020 bought the Spaniard some time, but following that, struggled for results, losing all three of their opening matches at the start of the 2021/22 campaign.
‘Trust the process’ was the mantra parrotted by the Arteta-ites. Trust it they did.
Fast forward to the present day and Arteta has built one of the best teams in Europe, but his influence hasn’t just been limited to the first team, with the former midfielder said to have taken a deep interest in the youth set-up from his very first day in charge.
Detailing a chat the manager had with the then Under-16s coach Dan Micciche in his training ground office, report Arteta was plotting Ethan Nwaneri’s path into the senior set-up as early as 2019.
Aged just 12 years old at the time, Nwaneri had been making waves in ’s under-16s side, with Arteta told by Micciche that Nwaneri was of a similar ilk to gem Foden.
On his early encounters with the Gunners manager, Micciche revealed: “His [Nwaneri’s] biggest quality was his decision-making.
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Ethan Nwaneri caught the eye during Arsenal’s League Cup win over Bolton. (Image: Getty)
“I remember saying to Luke Hobbs [’s head of academy coaching], Per Mertesacker [the head of ‘s academy] and Lee Herron [ academy’s head of operations] when I was pushing for him to be playing in the Under-18s as a 14-year-old, that he would become the youngest player to play in our first team and he did.”
Aged just 15 years old, Nwaneri became the youngest-ever debutant when he came off the bench against Brentford in September 2002.
He added: “When I worked for the FA with Phil Foden and the likes of that – at that age, for me, he was as good as that. I would have him in that similar bracket to Jadon Sancho, Marcus Edwards or Fabio Carvalho. He was similar, if not better at other things than them.”
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Well, the club’s plan appears to have worked a treat, with Nwaneri continuing to impress in the red and white of , this time as part of the first-team squad.
The teenager netted twice during ’s mid-week demolition of Bolton Wanderers in the , with talk Nwaneri could feature in upcoming fixtures.
In the meantime though, Arteta, with full trust in his process, will be working hard behind the scenes, analysing the scout reports and casting a watchful eye over youth-team training in search of the ‘next Ethan Nwaneri’.