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Former Arsenal star Paul Merson says Gunners wonderkid Ethan Nwaneri should be left out of Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad.
Nwaneri became both Arsenal and the Premier League’s youngest ever player when he came on as a late substitute in the side’s 3-0 win over Brentford back in September 2022, aged just 15 years and 181 days old.
But this season the teenager, who soon turns 18, has well and truly announced himself as one of the most exciting young players in European football with a string of magnificent performances for Mikel Arteta’s side.
With Bukayo Saka still yet to return from injury, and both Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus ruled out for the remainder of the campaign, Nwaneri has shone on the right of a new-look Arsenal attack alongside Leandro Trossard and Mikel Merino.
Nwaneri’s latest exceptional display, which came in Arsenal’s thumping Champions League last-16 first leg win over PSV Eindhoven, amplified calls for the England Under-19 international to be fast-tracked straight into Tuchel’s senior squad.
The Three Lions kick off their World Cup qualifying campaign with two home matches against Albania and Latvia later this month and Tuchel is expected to named his group for the double-header next Thursday.
“He’s a very good player. He’s a superstar,’ former Arsenal and England midfielder Merson said of Nwaneri’s meteoric rise on Sky Sports News (via Metro).
“You’ve got to take into consideration how old he is.
“He comes into the Premier League and plays at a top team like Arsenal and the pressure is on from the word go.
“He’s a top player and he will be a superstar if he keeps his feet on the ground and keeps on working hard.”
Speaking after Nwaneri’s emphatic strike against PSV, Joe Cole called for the teen to skip the Under-21s and ‘go straight in with Tuchel’ for this month’s World Cup qualifiers.
But Merson hopes England take a more cautious approach with Nwaneri and allow the Arsenal starlet the time and space he needs to develop at his own pace.
“I hear about him being in the England squad, this and that, but I’m not sure about that at the moment if I’m being honest,” Merson added.
“I watched him against West Ham two weeks ago and he never kicked the ball, he never touched it.
“At this age his games are going to be like that. They’re going to be up here and they’re going to be down there.
“It’s only when he gets a little bit older that they will be consistently seven and eights [out of ten] every week.
“He hasn’t played in the England Under-21s so I think sometimes we have this thing with England where a player plays and couple of games and then they should be playing for England.”
Merson – who was capped 21 times by England – is hopeful Nwaneri will go on to earn upwards of 50 caps for the Three Lions.
“There’s a lot of talent going forward in the England team that have been around for a while so I’d put him in the Under-21 team first if I was the manager,’ he continued.
“But he will be a talent and will, hopefully, go on and get 50 or 60 caps at least.”
