Mikel Arteta reveals why Arsenal wonderkid Ethan Nwaneri is not allowed in the Gunners dressing room

Ethan Nwaneri is not allowed to get ready for matches in Arsenal’s senior dressing room because of safeguarding rules, Mikel Arteta has revealed. 

The 17-year-old is in the midst of a stunning breakthrough campaign, slotting into the Gunners starting XI with ease and providing a viable solution to their issues on the right flank. 

Thus far this season, Nwaneri has made his first Premier League and Champions League starts, shone in the Carabao Cup, while scoring across all three competitions.

Fellow academy Myles Lewis-Skelly, who scored his first Gunners goal in the emphatic 5-1 win over Manchester City, has also burst onto the scene this season. And Arteta believes their friendship has aided Nwaneri’s transition, given he is still unable to prepare for games with his team-mates. 

Safeguarding rules mean that players must be 18 or older to share a dressing room with the senior squad. It means that the starlet must get changed elsewhere before joining his colleagues for the final team talk. 

‘When you see those two (Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri) walking next to each other, talking to each other, there is a bond there and a chemistry there,’ said Arteta. 

The 17-year-old enjoys a close friendship with fellow Gunners academy graduate Myles Lewis-Skelly

Mikel Arteta revealed that Nwaneri is not yet able to get ready for matches in the same dressing room as his team-mates

‘I imagine for them it is special because at the moment they are still in different dressing rooms [at the training ground]. 

‘Ethan cannot be in our dressing room still, which is unbelievable. He needs to get dressed somewhere else, even on match day. 

‘“So to have somebody close to him that has that trust, that confidence, that link, I think it is lucky. They are very lucky to have each other.’

Nwaneri’s rise could not have been better timed for an Arsenal side missing their talisman Bukayo Saka and fighting to keep their dreams of a Premier League title alive. 

The youngster won man of the match last week against Girona, capping his first European start with an impressive finish from outside the area. 

Team-mate Mikel Merino said afterwards: ‘This kind of goal does not happen by chance. This kind of action is something you train. He is always trying to make this shot, trying to cross to the second post from the right side. It is something he trains every day.

‘Obviously he has an amazing talent, but there is nothing that comes without hard work.’

Nwaneri proved it was no fluke when he scored the fifth goal late on against City at the Emirates. 

The teenager will hope to continue making an impact when the Gunners take on Newcastle in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg. Arsenal head into the game with a two-goal deficit from the first game but meet a Magpies side that have lost their last two home matches.