Arsenal loanee Ethan Nwaneri, who will be seeing out the 2025-26 campaign on loan at Marseille, has been called out by a rival manager in France after narrowly avoiding a red card. The England U21 international is still adjusting to life with Ligue 1 heavyweights, and was fortunate to escape an early ban after crunching into a tackle during domestic cup action.
Nwaneri headed to Stade Velodrome after finding regular game time hard to come by in north London. At his parent club he faces fierce competition for places from the likes of Bukayo Saka, Noni Madueke, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard and Eberechi Eze.
Injuries have been suffered at Emirates Stadium, with Mikel Merino among the latest to pick up an untimely knock, and it has been suggested that Nwaneri could have enjoyed more minutes had the winter transfer window been seen out with his parent club.
There are no regrets on the 18-year-old midfielder’s part, with Arsenal opting not to include a recall option in his Marseille loan agreement. Nwaneri enjoyed a positive stat to his new adventure when scoring on debut against Lens.
He was handed a starting berth for a meeting with Paris FC, but failed to convince before being replaced in a game that ultimately finished 2-2. Nwaneri’s latest outing came against Rennes in the Coupe de France.
The youngster was booked for a full-blooded challenge in that contest on Glen Kamara, before being hauled off at half-time. Marseille boss Roberto De Zerbi did not want to take any risks on Nwaneri collecting a second caution.
Rennes coach Habib Beye, who had to replace Kamara after seeing the ex-Arsenal academy graduate require treatment, believes that Nwaneri should have been given his marching orders. VAR is not used in French Cup competition.
Beye said, following post-match discussions with the match officials: “The match was altered by our early mistake and by that of the refereeing trio who had the honesty to admit it [that they made a mistake with Nwaneri].”
Arsenal will have had eyes on Nwaneri’s latest appearance, as they monitor how he fares in France. Mikel Arteta hopes that a loan transfer proves beneficial to all concerned. He said when explaining why that move was sanctioned: “We made the decision.
“What I would love to see from Ethan is that he scores that goal every three days, that he plays a lot of minutes, he gets the exposure he needs, he continues to grow mentally, physically and with the technical and tactical aspects that are necessary at this level.
“That’s the reason that we’ve done it, because we believe that was the right context and the right coach for him to do that and hopefully that’s going to happen.”
Nwaneri admitted to needing time in which to get fully up to speed following his arrival in Marseille. He told reporters: “I wasn’t 100% when I arrived, but I’m feeling better now. We’re working with the staff to get there, but I feel good.
“Marseille is a big club. The coach, the supporters, everything is extraordinary. I didn’t think twice about it. It’s a great experience to have under my belt.”
Arsenal made a point of not including a purchase option in the deal that took Nwaneri to the south of France, with there still confidence on the Gunners’ part that another home-grown academy graduate can have a big part to play in their long-term future.
Nothing is being ruled out, though, with Nwaneri adding when asked if there remains a possibility of a permanent move being made in the summer: “Yes, that’s true, anything is possible in football. We’ll see what happens. We’ll see if there’s any contact. I can’t tell you what will happen. We’ll see when it happens.”
Marseille will be back in action on Sunday when taking in a trip to arch-rivals Paris Saint-Germain. Arsenal, meanwhile, have booked their place in the Carabao Cup final and will be playing host to Sunderland on Saturday sat six points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
