Granit Xhaka was spot on with what he said about Ethan Nwaneri when he made his Arsenal debut in 2022
Ethan Nwaneri made his Arsenal debut aged 15 years, five months and 28 days back in 2022 during a 3-0 win over Brentford away from home.
Granit Xhaka was captaining Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side on that occasion, who won thanks to goals from William Saliba, Gabriel Jesus and Fabio Vieira.
Arsenal were excellent against then Brentford goalkeeper David Raya that day, and Nwaneri played his first minutes for the club coming on in the 92nd minute.
At the time, Arteta’s decision was criticised by some pundits who couldn’t understand why Nwaneri was playing so early on, with some suggesting that he hadn’t earned that chance.
However, the Arsenal manager was clearly demonstrating to Nwaneri that he had exceptional faith in his ability, a youngster he wanted to keep incentivised.
Granit Xhaka said Ethan Nwaneri was different to other Arsenal youngsters
That being said, Xhaka, who ended up leaving Arsenal in 2023, made some comments about Nwaneri’s ability after the game.
Xhaka said that there was a ‘big difference’ between Nwaneri and other youngsters at the club, talent which was seemingly hard to ignore.
Three years later, Nwaneri is now being praised by Arsene Wenger, and Xhaka was clearly spot on with his ‘very special’ assessment.
Speaking after Nwaneri’s debut, Xhaka said: “You can see a big difference with him and the other guys.
“He is very special. He looks old when I see him. I told a Brentford player that he was 15 and he looked at me and said: ‘we are looking old!’
“When you have 15 years difference you think, okay, the time is not gone but it is on the way.”
