Ethan Nwaneri

Ethan Chidiebere Nwaneri (born 21 March 2007) is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Ligue 1 club Marseille, on loan from Premier League club Arsenal, and the England U21 national team.

Born in North London, Nwaneri joined Arsenal's Academy at the age of eight. He made his Premier League debut against Brentford on 18 September 2022, becoming the youngest player to appear in the top flight of English football, at 15 years and 181 days old.

Ethan Nwaneri was born on 21 March 2007 at Whittington Hospital in Islington, London, to an Igbo Nigerian father, and an English-French mother. He attended St John's Senior School in Enfield, North London.

Nwaneri joined Arsenal at the age of eight. By the age of 14, he was already playing for their under-18 side. Nwaneri played alongside friend and teammate Myles Lewis-Skelly at the academy.

Nwaneri started the 2022–23 season playing for Arsenal under-18s, but he quickly advanced to the club's under-21 side. Having made a sole appearance in the 2022–23 Premier League 2, he joined the first team for training in September, and made his first senior matchday squad on 18 September when he was named as a substitute for the Premier League match against Brentford. Coming off the bench to replace Fábio Vieira in second-half stoppage time, he became the youngest player to ever appear in the Premier League at the age of 15 years and 181 days – breaking the record previously held by Harvey Elliott, and the all-time English top-flight record held since August 1964 by former Sunderland goalkeeper Derek Forster, by three days. He also became Arsenal's youngest-ever player in any competition, breaking the previous record of 16 years and 177 days, set by Cesc Fàbregas in the 2003–04 League Cup. In the post-match press conference, manager Mikel Arteta explained that they had to name Nwaneri and two other under-21 players on the bench because the first team had several injuries, especially the injury of midfielder and captain Martin Ødegaard, and a "gut feeling" was behind his decision to send Nwaneri on.

In June 2023, with his schoolboy terms ending, Nwaneri agreed to a new deal with Arsenal on scholarship terms with an agreement for a professional contract upon his seventeenth birthday on 21 March 2024.

Nwaneri played as a substitute in the 2023–24 season in the Premier League in Arsenal's 6–0 win away against West Ham United, coming on in the 77th minute. In the post-match press conference, Arteta mentioned "the players on the bench whispering to bring Ethan on, which is a great thing to hear".

On 25 September 2024, Nwaneri scored his first senior goals when he netted a brace against Bolton Wanderers in the third round of the EFL Cup, helping the Gunners to a 5–1 victory. He scored an outside-the-box shot against Preston North End in the following round. He scored his first goal in the Premier League on 23 November in Arsenal's 3–0 win home against Nottingham Forest after getting subbed on in the 82nd-minute. This made him the ninth-youngest goalscorer in the league's history at 17 years, 247 days old.