Mikel Arteta has been tipped to cash in on Ethan Nwaneri this summer, with Alan Smith unsure if the Arsenal manager has 'trust' in the teenager. Nwaneri made a name for himself as one of the most exciting young talents in English football having broken into Mikel Arteta's first-team squad aged just 15 back in 2022.
The midfielder featured 26 times in the Premier League in the 2024/25 campaign, registering four goals and two assists, but found regular minutes harder to come by last season as the Gunners ended their long wait for another Premier League title. Nwaneri's lack of minutes saw him loaned out to Marseille in January, but an underwhelming loan in France has raised question marks over the 19-year-old's long-term future back at his boyhood club.
Josh Kroenke emphasised the need for Arsenal to bolster the squad from a position of strength at the end of the season, with Arteta hoping to bring in three or four major signings in the summer. Player sales will be necessary to raise funds and make room for the incoming signings and Arsenal have reportedly put several players up for sale.
And Smith believes Nwaneri could be one of those players to make way, with the former Gunners striker wondering whether the midfielder might push for the move himself in search of regular minutes. 'As an academy product, it's pure profit, isn't it? And he hasn't had much of a sniff at all and then went out on loan,' Smith told BestBettingSites.co.uk. 'I think as a manager, as a club, you're always a bit reluctant to let a talent like that go who you've nurtured, but with the financial regulations it could free up money to buy elsewhere. So we'll see on that. But the player himself might feel that he could do with a move if he feels the gaffer doesn't really have trust in him.'
Speaking in April last season, Arteta warned Nwaneri that his status as a Hale End academy graduate would not be enough alone to warrant a place in Arsenal's long-term future. 'At the end, what has to define this football club is to seek for excellence and seek for the best, regardless if you're coming from the academy or abroad,' he said. 'If we can have players from Hale End, much better because the identity is there. We grow with them and they know exactly what we're looking for. But at the end they have to earn it. Not for a week, not for a month, for years. Like anybody else, it doesn't matter what department or role you have in the club. You have to sustain performance and that has to be at the very highest level if we want to win and be where we want to be.'
Along with Nwaneri, wingers Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli, forward Gabriel Jesus and defender Ben White have all been linked with moves away from the Emirates Stadium. Jesus has been linked with a return to Brazil after a season in which he struggled for game time due to a loss of form and injury issues. Trossard, meanwhile, has emerged as a top target for Turkish side Besiktas while also attracting interest from several Premier League clubs.
