Mikel Arteta losing his favorite son Martin Ødegaard for two months will finally expose Mikel Arteta’s nonchalant attitude towards Academy players from Hale End.
Martin Ødegaard has been ruled out of action until at least November due to his injury picked up with Norway during the last international break.
The Arsenal captain will miss several games, including big ones in the UEFA Champions League and in the league, with a trip to Manchester City, the visit of Liverpool and PSG all on the horizon for Arteta and his minions.
The injury to Martin Ødegaard has made fans call on their manager to finally give 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri a run of games with the first team. The former Arsenal captain has been known for his reluctance about giving chances to Academy stars in his era and this may be his chance to finally prove critics wrong.
Whilst Martin Ødegaard has already missed two games, the signs have not been positive for the young players, as Arteta was visibly reluctant to feature Ethan Nwaneri in any of the games despite being the only similar player to their absent captain of all available options.
It wasn’t until Bukayo Saka’s forced substitution that 17-year-old Nwaneri was brought in for the final four minutes excluding add time in the North London derby win over Tottenham Hotspur last Sunday and while The Gunners struggled for creativity in their UEFA Champions League draw at Atalanta, not a minute was afforded to their only creative player Nwaneri.
Ethan Nwaneri : Neglected since his Arsenal debut
It’s been more than two years since Ethan Nwaneri made his first team debut in a 3-0 away win at Brentford at age 15, becoming the youngest player to ever feature in a Premier League match. Now 17, the midfielder has featured two times more with the first team, taking his overall minute played to only 18.
While the talent is undeniable, it is rather surprising that Mikel Arteta has not given more chances to the teenager, a situation that is close to proving right what the critics said about the Spaniard when Ethan Nwaneri made his senior debut in 2022.
What was said about Mikel Arteta
A 15-year-old playing at senior level brought mixed reactions amongst fans and pundits. While Arsenal fans saw it as a positive, with club legend Kevin Campbell amongst those who commended the manager for his decision, the otherwise was perceived from the outside, most especially some pundits who believe Arteta does not care about the player but himself.
Former Chelsea defender Jason Cundy slammed Arteta, believing he does not care about the youngster and only gave him the debut for selfish reasons. Cundy said to talkSPORT:
“Arteta doesn’t care about the boy. I think that’s a really poor decision. It’s about Arteta all about Arteta. The manager that played the youngest ever player in the Premier League is me. I think that’s self-indulgent.
When I saw the kid on the bench I thought that was great for him. What a brilliant experience for the kid. When I saw him warming up I thought this is ridiculous. This has got nothing to do with the kid this is all about Arteta, all about him, look what I’ve done. Time will te think it’s irresponsible. What’s Arteta going to do next week? Pick a 14-year-old. I’m deadly serious here.” He added.
What Danny Mills said
Former Manchester City defender Danny Mills was also another who was outspoken about the Ethan Nwaneri debut. He was not in agreement with Arteta’s choice. Speaking to talkSPORT a few days after the game, Mills said:
“I don’t understand the logic behind it or the thinking behind it. A gut feeling? I think he’d only made his Under-21 debut this season? So it’s not like he’s been regularly in that. He’s obviously still at school.”
To further explain his points, Mills considered that the situation be looked at in view of players in the U-21s, their feeling towards a player in the U-16s being brought ahead of them for a chance with the first team.
“Arsenal Under-21’s a good academy, a good setup. Second in the table now and playing well. How do those midfielders feel? That have been playing well for the 21’s? A lad three years younger than them gets an opportunity ahead of them? Because the manager said ‘well I only saw him a couple of days before.’ So it’s not like he’s been in and around it for some time. ‘I had a gut feeling’? Come on.15 years old does he have the mental capacity to deal with all that? What’s he go and do next week? Go and play for the Under-16s? What sort of environment has that put him into. Suddenly now there’s a lot of pressure on him.” Danny Mills concluded.
Two years later, all the critics are being proven right with 42-ywar-old’s poor management of the youngster amongst all other talents emerging from Hale End. Ethan Nwaneri‘s other appearance following his debut came in February this year, 17 months after his first, came to be as a result of pressure from his players to bring him on, while Arsenal was leading 6-0 away at West Ham United.
Speaking in a postmatch interview, the Arsenal boss said:
“There is something that you have to earn in your team and that is the trust of your team-mates. I had two things. One, the players on the bench whispering ‘Bring Ethan in!’, which is a great thing to hear. The other thing is for your teammates to give you the ball all the time. If they do that, it’s because they really trust you and you only have to see how many times he was involved in that. So it’s a great sign.”
Yet, he was only brought on to play the final 13 minutes. There have been several occasions where Mikel Arteta had passed on the chance to feature either Ethan Nwaneri or Myles Lewis-Skelly, another talented 17-year-old midfielder who has been named on the matchday squad on multiple times but still unable to make his debut.
The 6-0 win over RC Lens in the Emirates Stadium in the round five of the UEFA Champions League in December was a good avenue to give both a debut in Europe, after all they had taken a 5-0 lead at half-time. However, the former PSG Midfielder choose to use his substitution by bringing on Ben White at half-time, a defender who had already played in every game in the season, amongst others.
Even in their final Champions League group game played for the culture, despite the absence of some of the regular midfield players, neither Nwaneri nor Lewis-Skelly was given minutes. They spent the whole Champions League season on the bench. Albeit it’s good for them, it is becoming boring.
Hale End : Other victims of Mikel Arteta’s poor management
Not only Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly have been victims of Mikel Arteta’s nonchalant attitude towards the Academy players. Charlie Patino was a promising midfielder, who thrived on every loan spell he had while on the books at Arsenal. Aside his debut where he scored the final goal off the bench in the 5-1 win over Sunderland in December 2020, he would make one more appearance before permanently leaving Arsenal last summer.
Miguel Azeez, Reuell Walters, Amario Cozier-Duberry have all been there but in the end had to depart the club without proper chance at the senior team. The loss of Chido Obi-Martin in the summer can only be explained in this context, as the youngster turned down all efforts the club made to keep him.
Mikel Arteta: Losing favourite son (Martin Ødegaard) for 2-months will Expound indifferent attitude towards Hale End
While other youngsters are now in the midst, the injury to their his favourite son Martin Ødegaard gives Arteta one final chance to prove his critics wrong and convince the youngsters that they’ll get their chances with the first team. There is no better way to achieving these than giving minutes to Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly.
Months without Martin Ødegaard will be crucial. Will Arteta trust these youngsters during these periods remains to be seen. There are fixtures to give them trials. The Carabao games and Premier League meetings with Southampton, Forest and Bournemouth are games where he could potentially give more minutes to them.
How the Arsenal boss handles the situation of Martin Ødegaard injury will define the future for Hale End at Arsenal under his reign, and for a club who had seen the likes of Bukayo Saka, Jack Wilshere and others go on to establish themselves in the first team, the thirst for more of the same will not be quenched given the number of talents emerging these days.
While Fabio Vieira has been sent out on loan and Emile Smith Rowe sold to Fulham, Ethan Nwaneri remains the only direct replacement of Martin Ødegaard in the squad, and Arteta continously overlooking him will send a negative message to upcoming players at the club’s Academy that no future for them at Arsenal under the Spaniard.
The likes of Emile Smith Rowe and Joe Willock are now out of the club but are making great waves with Fulham and Newcastle United respectively and Arteta is not unanimously excused for their departure, most notably that of the latter. Alex Iwobi and loaned star Reiss Nelson have also been doing well at Craven Cottage. Although some of these are not really missed, Arsenal is a much better environment and there is no better incentive for the graduating players than to get a chance to star with the senior team.
The ball is in the court for Mikel Arteta. Although the improvement of Arsenal under him is telling, in the future, a different narrative will be said about his treatment of Academy players if he does not start to change the impression.
Hassan Afolabi
