Ethan Nwaneri is naturally quiet. For the most part, the Arsenal is happy to talk to the field.
So when Lee Carsley's Under 21s was distributed last week for a finishing exercise in St George's Park, the stage was set for Nwaneri to show why there are already calls to accelerate in the seniors of Thomas Tuchel.
Upper corner. Lower corner. Goal. Goal. Goal. Goal. The rest of those involved in the exercise, including under 21 star James McATee, was speechless.
“He is a class player and in training he has been incredible,” McATee told Mail Sport in Lorient after Nwaneri got his first taste of 21's football from the bank.
“I am so impressed by him. I was recently finished with him and he was ridiculous, he didn't miss!
“I had trouble getting them in and he just didn't miss, both feet too. He is a world class player. '
Fast forward to Monday evening when Nwaneri took the ball in a bag of space at 25 meters from goal, plagued his right before cutting in to make a mockery of the defense of Portugal while he saw the bottom corner.
No teammate wore a happiness of surprise. It was a finish that he had shown hundreds of times in St George's Park last week. It was a finish that had consistently entered and became his trademark.
Three times this season he had the ball in the same bag just outside the area for Arsenal, and the result has always been the same. Preston Weg in October, Girona away on his first Champions League start, Manchester City at home four days later to close a 5-1 thrashing from the champions.
“It is a finish he has and Noni (Madueke) actually has the same finish,” Carsley said after Nwaneri noticed his full debut under 21 on Monday evening.
'Everyone knows exactly what will happen, but they just can't stop! He goes, go, go … touch and end.
“But what we have to remember is that he is only 18. It's just incredible and what an impression he made. “
Much of the chatter in St George's Park in the last seven days was about whether Nwaneri can count himself hard to not have been chosen for the seniors by Tuchel.
Arsenal teammate and fellow ten-ten-ten-Lewis-Skelly did, albeit in a complete rear position that has much less depth than the attacking ranks where Nwaneri plays.
But while external noise focused on an assumed snub, there was a certain relief in Carsley and his staff that the player had the opportunity to develop in a spotlight less sharp and clear than that of the first team.
It is also easy to forget that although Theo Walcott was quickly followed in the English seniors as a 16-year-old at the 2006 World Cup, he could play 21 times with the Under 21s.
More recently, Bukayo Saka once played for the Under 21s 6-0 win against Kosovo in the same right-wing position as Nwaneri played against Portugal-as an 18-year-old before he was elevated to the seniors. He never looked back.
There are clear parallels for Nwaneri with both those earlier and current arsenal examples, not in the least that is always played above his age group.
Nwaneri made his debut under 16 years old as a 14-year-old, played a year later under the age of 17 and younger than 19 as a 17-year-old. The arch of Under 21s came on Friday on his 18th birthday as a replacement in France.
It is hurry to accelerate young players who, although exciting, fills certain coaches around St George's Park with a certain threat.
“If you have so much talent, there is sometimes an urge to play them and do they sometimes fall short?” Ashley Cole, assistant of Carsley, explained.
“These two (Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri) not. But you have to be careful with these young players. They are special and expensive, so you sometimes have to take the time. '
Nwaneri's talent is known to those who are responsible for navigating players via the FA's player trajectory since he was 12 years old. Carsley, himself, has worked with him in younger age groups.
He was the captain of England under the 19s twice earlier this season when only 17. A calm leader but a self -assured is how sources around England's younger age groups have described him.
So much of his turnout has been firmly brought into my mind, but that does not mean that he has taken the route to be a lonely wolf. Exactly opposite. In addition to having a cheerleader in McATEE, Omari Hutchinson of Ipswich Town followed during this camp as a valuable mentor, friend and confidant for Nwaneri.
Hutchinson spent seven years at Hale End in Arsenal's Academy before he left for Chelsea in 2022 and went close to Nwaneri because of the friendship between the fathers of the players.
Obi, the father of Nwaneri, has had a major influence on his son's career, while Leon Hutchinson had a similar impact on the rise of Omari. Both men were present at the Hawthorns on Monday evening to see their sons lead the attack of England.
Hutchinson was determined to make Nwaneri feel part of Carsley's newly assembled dressing room during this camp. Even more than that, Hutchinson wanted Nwaneri to embrace the moment and feel like the most important man he is quickly.
“The most important thing was to keep him in the group and not to be shy,” he said. 'I tried to take care of him and advise him, but he is so mature.
“I just told him:” You are that guy, just keep working “. “
Being 18 years old is a milestone moment for many young men, but Nwaneri was probably never much hassle.
In the game mode, England was on the day against a stars-lined France side and his late cameo in a 5-3 defeat was not how he had presented his first taste of football under 21, or his 18th birthday, on his way.
But there was a dressing room full of players who would not like to let his birthday pass, because cupcakes were arranged for the late-night flight back to the UK. Some balloons were also fine.
Birthdays have always proven a happy omen for Nwaneri. He scored twice against Denmark under the age of 17, only one day after changing 16 back in 2023 and the day before his 17th birthday he scored in a 5-1 win over Northern Ireland under 17 years old.
The big question mark about Nwaneri in the last few days has not been whether he will appear under 21 euros this summer – there must still be conversations with Arsenal, Carsley admitted – but the position his future is with the senior squadron.
A no. 10 in the form of Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard is how some, such as Gunners' Academy Manager per Mertesacker, believe that he will end up. Others see him as developing into an unstoppable winger who is reminiscent of Arjen Robben. This characteristic finish is creepy similar to the characteristic movement of the Dutchman.
The place on the right wing has become in recent weeks for Arsenal, in the absence of Saka. Jarrod Bowen started there for the seniors against Latvia, while under the 21s had McATee outside while she drove in against France.
What Nwaneri has that none of the other options that are currently coming through on the FA path is the ambidexterity to form a large threat on his left or his right foot.
“What he now achieves is by no means a surprise for me,” said former Arsenal Academy coach Alex Nicholls, who started working with Nwaneri during his season under the 11s, to Mail Sport.
'I can't think of coaching a player in my career who has such a steel focus on becoming a professional football player. The level of Focus of Ethan has always been laser -like.
“He is an obsessive trainer. He is obsessed with dominating any environment in which he can play. In one-V-one situations we just tried to ensure that he could always go both sides and also does not necessarily have perfect technical symmetry.
'We just wanted him to be effective and efficient on both sides and you are now starting to see that coming forward.
'The way he intervened to fill Bukayo's shoes while he was injured, it shows its unpredictability.
'You see so often how he can dominate one V-one where we know that he can get within the field, as we saw him against Girona and Man City and bend it to the distant post.
'But then I saw him against Newcastle and are unpredictable against Leicester and go on the outside and wave a dangerous cross with his right foot.
“That element of his technical possibilities really shines and it offers him more opportunities because he is so versatile.”
Former England star Joe Cole felt it to completely bypass the Under 21s, just as Lewis-Skelly did, was the formula for success for Nwaneri.
But after a camp where he dominated in training, he received a valuable mentoring from Hutchinson, McATEE and more, and even got a cupcake or two, perhaps the Under 21s is now the perfect tonic for Nwaneri in a season where so many people can't push him fast enough.
Next for the seniors are two lower printing competitions. A world cup qualification in Andorra – in 171st place in the world and able to be viewed by only 3,300 people in their national stadium – and a friendly home of Senegal in June.
It is perhaps the birth of Nwaneri's top career in England, although Saka will be back in the frame by that time to add to the already available talent.
Tuchel looks. But for now it is Carsley and Co who leans back and wonder about the unstoppable power of Arsenal.
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