Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has told Football.London that Per Mertesacker and Edu made him aware of Ethan Nwaneri.
Nwaneri made his debut for Arsenal in the London derby against Brentford on Sunday afternoon.
The attacking player came on as a substitute in the final minutes of the Premier League match.
Arsenal won 3-0.
Nwaneri is 15 years, five months and 23 days old at the moment.
The teenager is the youngster ever Premier League player.
The previous record for the youngest ever Premier League debutant was held by Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott, who made his first appearance in the top flight of English football at 16 years, 30 days for Fulham.
Arsenal manager Arteta has outlined how he came to be aware of the talent of Nwaneri.
Arteta has said that Per Mertesacker and Edu made him aware of the quality of the 15-year-old.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta on Ethan Nwaneri
The Arsenal boss said: “It was a pure gut feeling. I met the boy (and) really liked what I saw. Per Mertesacker and the academy staff are giving me really good information, Edu as well.
“I met him, he’s trained a couple of times with us. Yesterday he had to come because we have injuries, especially the injury of Martin (Odegaard), and then I had that feeling from yesterday that if the opportunity could come that I was going to do it and I just done it.”
That Ethan Nwaneri made his debut for Arsenal at only 15 shows his quality and underlines how highly he is rated at the North London club.
We do not expect the teenager to play for the Gunners on a regular basis from now, but we could see him get a few minutes here and there in the coming weeks and months.
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