Liverpool are eyeing up a move for teenager Ethan Nwaneri following his record-breaking appearance against Brentford.
The Arsenal youngster became the youngest Premier League player in history to make an appearance aged just 15 years and 181 days old – he was born in 2007, the same year that Spider-Man 3 hit cinemas.
His late substitute appearance saw him break Harvey Elliott’s record from 2019 when he was at Fulham, which saw him break the record aged just 16 years and 30 days.
Now reports are claiming that Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United are all interested in the teenage sensation and he may be able to pick and choose out of all of the top sides in England where he wants to turn professional.
Ethan Nwaneri is younger than the Emirates stadium… pic.twitter.com/z761jDflQs
— ODDSbible (@ODDSbible) September 18, 2022
Liverpool linked with Ethan Nwaneri
A player that Granit Xhaka called a ‘special talent’ and someone who has a ‘big, big future’ is yet to sign his first professional contract – which is why all of the top clubs in England are currently reported to be interested in signing Nwaneri.
He can’t sign his first deal until he’s 17 years old, which is still a year and six months away – it will be up to former player Per Mertesacker (now academy coach at Arsenal) to persuade the youngster that this is the perfect place for his development.
But you can bet that the other clubs will be doing the same. Fortunately for Arsenal, that appearance to break the record will most likely go a long way in keeping him at the club.
Given Liverpool’s track record with young players being integrated in the squad, Nwaneri may want to follow in Trent Alexander-Arnold, Harvey Elliott and Fabio Carvalho’s footsteps.
However, at his age, it’s unlikely to know how he will develop as it will be years before we see him fully integrated into first-team football. He can’t even feature in the Europa League until he’s 16, so there’s clearly a long way to go before anything significant happens in his career.
He stands as a hugely exciting talent and Arsenal will want to hold onto their academy product but plenty of youth products over the years have switched when it’s time to make the official professional contract decision – the same applies here as only time will tell.
