Ethan Nwaneri is not someone for unnecessary fuss or exaggerated parties.
Less than 24 hours after he became the youngest player of the Prem – his Arsenal debut made on Sunday, September 18, 2022 of 15 years and 181 days of the bank in Brentford – he gave GCSE's English homework to the StH John's Senior School in Enfield.
Teacher Elle Bezley revealed: “I am not a joke, he walked at school on Monday, gave me his homework, sat down and went on. No discussion, no distraction. Nothing.”
It is therefore no surprise that Nwaneri will not celebrate his 18th birthday on Friday as every normal teenager would do. Instead, he is part of Lee Carsley's England under the 21 of England who takes France in Lorient.
The Hale End Wonderboy – already with eight goals in all competitions in his breakthrough season under boss Mikel Arteta – is now technically a man.
This milestone day also means that he can finally be changed to the same dressing room as the seniors of Arsenal at the Emirates and their London Colney Training Base – guaranteeing limitations to him until now prevented this from doing this.
But those who know Nwaneri will tell you that he has been a wise old head on young shoulders for a while, so is his striking adulthood and modest personality.
It is believed that he gets that from his father, a leading figure in his life on and next to the field so far.
During the European Championships under 17 in Hungary in May 2023, Nwaneri brought time to studying diligently in hotel rooms – in addition to Pal and colleague Academy Grad Myles Lewis -S -SKILY – for his GCSE exams because his father had warned that education is coming before football.
At St. John's he would ask teachers to take extra revision papers to take home. For a GCSE English spoken language project, he avoided base on football, instead investigates and presented it on conspiracy theories.
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His specialty was mathematics and scored 98 percent in his school entrance exams. His main teacher Alexander Tardios noted: “He is a very academic boy. He could easily have ended up at King's College of UCL.”
Nwaneri would bring Ubers from London Colney back to his school to ensure that he did not miss tests.
And on days off, Nwaneri childhood friend Lewis -Skelly – who lived in the neighborhood – would cycle so that they could get some extra training.
Even now, as regularly for the first team, he has remained sober. After the training he is often seen in the parking lot to be picked up while his teammates are driving in luxury sports cars.
Nwaneri was first introduced to the Arsenal fans as an eight-year-old in May 2015 when the under the 9s were paraded around the field during the rest of a 4-1 Premier League win in West Brom.
Four and a half years later, a 12-year-old Nwaneri was on the radar of the newly appointed manager Arteta. The Spaniard asked Academy coach then Micciche for videos of his progress.
Soon Nwaneri trained a lot with boys his senior and scored on his Arsenal Under-18s debut of 14 years old and played for the 12 years of 12 years.
He was also encouraged to play in different positions to improve his development, to harden him: No10, a left-sided NO8, a center-forward and winger.
'Continues to develop'
Ex-Arsenal midfielder Steve Morrow was the head of the Gunners development of the youth when Nwaneri arrived at the end of Hale after a short period in the youth arrangement of Chelsea.
Morrow said to Sunsport: “We always had that philosophy that the players had to be at a level where they were challenged more than their actual age group.
“You can still see the characteristics he had from 11 and 12 years old. That balance, that decrease in the shoulder, that power, that acceleration. No matter how direct.
“It is incredible how all those super strong ones he had continued to develop.
“When he finished at Hale and looked at him on a Sunday, he scored goals every week for fun with pure skills and intelligence and technology, not just physical qualities.
“He didn't always play wide, he often played centrally. That really helped his development because it gave him a spatial consciousness of what happened around him.
Grab his chance
“It is quite rare that young players are such good decision makers. He had it early and you can see it today. Ethan can go as far as he wishes.
“Sometimes you see players you think they have similar levels of talent, but it is always those who have the right posture, character and focus, those who are brave and are able to deal with disappointments that make it.”
At the end of his scholarship year in the summer of 2023, he was connected to a move back to Chelsea, with Manchester United and Manchester City also sniffed around, but eventually dedicated to the club with his first senior contract signed in March 2024.
It has paid off and answered his chance with Bukayo Saka for three months this term after hamstring operation in December, both in the Prem and in the Champions League so far.
The current coach under the age of 18 Adam Birchaall said: “We treated him like any other person. And the parents were excellent to understand the importance of that.
“That is so important because it really helped with values - in everything, as people.
'What I have seen everywhere is [Nwaneri’s] Application to be the best he can be, that mentality, are simply ruthless.
“That is what it's all about a strong young shooter – who understands real strength as a person and yourself to be able to go into that environment.”
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