Arsenal will rue losing ‘one of the world’s best’ for £0

Tuesday night came as a complete and utter surprise to the majority of Arsenal fans.

After a couple of rather dower weeks, there was a concern among some that their game against PSV Eindhoven would be just another underwhelming affair.

Instead, Mikel Arteta’s side put seven past the Dutch giants, with Hale End sensation Ethan Nwaneri once again grabbing a European game by the scruff of its neck.

The teenage dynamo has been one of the Gunners’ most exciting players this season and looks set for a massive future, but he’s still being outperformed by a former youth player the club couldn’t keep a hold of.

Most Arsenal fans first took notice of Nwaneri when Arteta made him the youngest player in Premier League history in September 2022, bringing him on in the dying embers of a win against Brentford at just 15 years and 181 days old.

He’d make a few more appearances the following season, but this year has been the 17-year-old’s major breakthrough.

Despite still being so young, the often “unplayable” prospect, as dubbed by Jack Wilshere

, has already made 27 first-team appearances this term, totalling 1019 minutes, in which he’s scored eight goals and provided one assist.

That means the Enfield-born gem is averaging a goal involvement every three games, or every 113.22 minutes, which is undeniably impressive.

Moreover, he’s not just scoring tap-ins, he’s already amassed quite the catalogue of strikes, from well-worked team moves to curlers from outside the area – the kid can do it all.

He’s showcased since Bukayo Saka’s injury why he’s so special, notably scoring in back-to-back away Champions League games, which included a brilliant goal against PSV this week.

With that said, as brilliant as he’s been, another former academy gem has been even more effective this season.

The European superstar doing better than Nwaneri

Given the size of Arsenal and their academy, it should come as no surprise that they have had many superstars fall through the cracks early on in their careers, with Harry Kane and Eberechi Eze just a couple of examples.

However, some people might not be aware that, before he moved to Chelsea’s academy, Michael Olise was a part of Hale End for a short period.

Unfortunately, the club did not keep a hold of him, and after being released by the Blues in 2016, then spending time with Manchester City’s youth set-up, he secured a move to Reading in 2017, Crystal Palace in 2021 and then finally, a mega £50m move to Bayern Munich in the summer just gone.

While the Frenchman was already tremendously impressive in South London, racking up a tally of 16 goals and 25 assists in 90 appearances, he’s reached another level entirely this season having previously been described as “one of the best talents in the world” by Oliver Glasner.

In just 36 appearances for FC Hollywood, totalling 2354 minutes, the “unstoppable” game-changer, as dubbed by Statman Dave, has scored 13 goals and provided 12 assists and is showing no signs of slowing down.

That means the sensational winger, whom writer Muhammad Butt dubbed a “wizard”, is averaging a goal involvement every 1.44 games, or every 94.16 minutes.

Ultimately, in Nwaneri, Arsenal look to have a genuine world-beater in the making, but with how well Olise has played this season, we imagine the club wishes they could have kept hold of him in the past.