Morning campers. Hope we’re all good?

I was going to start looking ahead to the United game on Sunday, but given Ethan Nwaneri has essentially signed for Marseille on loan for the rest of this season, I figured we need to say something about that.

It appears Big Bill Saliba has had his say before departing to the South of France, calling them one of the ‘best clubs in the world’ and certainly, he’ll get a vociferous home support that will no doubt back him. Big Bill had a very impressive loan spell there a few years back, so much so that I think Marseille were quite open about the fact they would love to sign him, but Arsenal were steadfast in their view that he must return to the club. Didn’t that turn out to be a shrewd decision, eh?

Another key part of this puzzle is Roberto Di Zerbi and Nwaneri soecifically mentioned him too, for good reason, I suspect. We saw how Di Zerbi could adapt his tactics, would play on the front-foot, as well as improving a number of the Brighton players in his time, so he will have probably sought the council of somebody like Leo Trossard before making the move too, I suspect.

For Arsenal and Nwaneri, it also represents a bit of a U-turn. The noises coming out of the credible sources online were that he wanted to stay and learn what it is like to be part of a title challenge. That suggested that whilst we were all worried about his lack of minutes, the club and the player were probably a little more realistic; he’s 18 years old, he’s had a breakthrough season last season, sure, but that was built on a heavy injury crisis, as well as less depth than Arsenal have today. He is a guy whom I think Arsenal have massive hopes for, so I suspect that the conversation about the remainder of this season was open, positive, and focused on his development. The hope he – and we – all have is that Arsenal will be competing for the top honours for many years to come, so there will hopefully be other title run-ins that he will be part of. But at his formative age, he needed minutes, which was clear when they had the conversation at the training ground, probably ended with a collective acknowledgement that he just wasn’t going to get them this season. He’s missed a few of the match-day squads of late, which shows the level of competition that there is this season, as we fight on multiple fronts.

The benefit of keeping him was because of the fear of the injury crisis going nuclear this season; we’ve already had a ton of injuries, but they have all been in the same position, which hasn’t tended to be where Arsenal want him to play. Had we lost Saka, Madueke, Martinelli and Trossard all at once this season, I suspect he might have played in the wide positions, even though Arsenal supposedly don’t want to see that. But he can do that job, and I wonder if he’ll be asked to once or twice by Di Zerbi? Part of me hopes so, because it will mean that Arsenal might just reconsider their viewpoint that he isn’t quite suited to the flanks, with next season in mind.

According to Romano, there are clauses in there which mean the fee for the loan changes depending on game time. That makes sense; both the player and the club need him to play. We can’t have a West Brom/Pulis/Gnabry situation on our hands. So if the club have set a structure, something like the below, it makes sense for all parties to get him minutes:

  • Plays less than 10 games = £4million
  • Plays less than 15 games = £3million
  • Plays less than 20 games = £2million
  • Plays 21 or over = £1million

Of course, it’ll probably be mapped out a little more precise than my ‘ignorant fan who doesn’t know the inner workings of football finances’ example above, but this loan is designed to get us a player back in the summer who has grown and improved and can come back next season ready to challenge, so having clauses that reward the game-time investment Marseille put in, absolutely work for us, him and them too, I suspect.

I think the different culture and style of football might also allow him to grow as a man, too. Maybe he’ll pick up some French, maybe he’ll find sides to his game he didn’t know he had, maybe he’ll even be able to iron out some of the kinks that have meant Arteta will be much more willing to use him than he has this season? Who knows? But in William Saliba, we have a case study that shows that this pathway has been trodden before and done so to great success in our Rolls-Royce centre-half we have. Let’s hope the same happens for Ethan.

I’ve seen some speculate that we might go into the market for somebody now, but frankly, I just don’t see that. The reason we let Ethan go is that he wasn’t making match day squads. Why bring somebody else in to have the same situation? Plus, if we’re talking about him as a future star, why put another barrier in the way by signing somebody?

The jittery amongst us might worry that another injury crisis is bound to come up around the corner, but these are human beings with careers, so we can’t just stockpile to the extent they are not even making match-day squads. And you can’t do it on the ‘off-chance’ of injury ravaging this team. At the start of the season we had injuries, but some of those were long term like Jesus and Havertz (who can also play in at eight – where Ethan was earmarked), but those guys are back now, so the pathway is even more crowded for the youngster.

So for me, this is a good move for all involved, and I hope he absolutely smashes it and comes back ready to fight for The Arsenal next season.

Back tomorrow as we start to stare down united on Sunday. See you then.