Former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson has warned Ethan Nwaneri to remain patient in his quest for more first-team minutes.

The 17-year-old caught the eye once again after coming on as a substitute against Nottingham Forest, scoring the Gunners’ third goal. While Merson believes Nwaneri will become a “superstar”, he has told the player not to listen to people who will urge him to leave the Emirates:

“It depends who’s looking after him because people are going to get in his ear aren’t they? ‘Oh, get away you need to play’. He’s at a great club. Don’t leave there too early. For me, be patient. He’s 17 years of age, he’s behind top players, he’ll keep on learning and learning.”

“As soon you get noises [from] people around you going, ‘You should be playing every week’, and this and that, well, where are you going to go and play every week? At the moment I think he’s at the right place.”

“But he’ll be a superstar. He is a top player, every time he comes on he does something special in the game, and today he scores another good goal. A real, real talent. Just got to make sure he keeps his head and his chance will come. Take your time, you’re 17, you’re at a massive club in Arsenal.”

Nwaneri is playing well beyond his years

Every time the teenager takes to the pitch for Arsenal, he makes an impact. Despite playing just 10 minutes against Forest, he had already seen one dangerous shot go wide of the post before getting on the scoresheet.

Manager Mikel Arteta does have a tricky balancing act. He will know what a talent Nwaneri is and the midfielder is clearly ready to make the step up despite the fact that he will only turn 18 in March.

You would expect him to get more game time as the season goes on. Most of his starts will come in cup competitions initially but there is a good chance that he could become a rotation option in the league very soon too.

Arsenal’s squad depth has returned

Being able to bring the likes of Nwaneri, Raheem Sterling and Thomas Partey off the bench at the weekend does show you that the Gunners squad is strong now that players have returned from injury.

Arteta only has two members of the first-team squad on the sidelines, Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu, with Kieran Tierney even back in training after a lengthy layoff.

Find out who is in Arsenal’s first-team squad for the 2024/2025 season here