Mikel Arteta says an ‘gut feeling’ led him to make Ethan Nwaneri the Premier League’s youngest ever player.
Midfielder Nwaneri came off the bench in Arsenal’s 3-0 win at Brentford aged just 15 years and 181 days.
The teenager took the Premier League record from Liverpool midfielder Harvey Elliott, who made his senior English bow for Fulham aged 16 years and 30 days in May 2019.
Nwaneri has reportedly attracted strong interest from a group of top Premier League clubs including Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea.
But Arsenal boss Arteta believes the young talent now has a chance to prove his prowess with the Gunners.
“It was pure gut feeling, I met the kid and liked what I saw,” Arteta said.
“He has trained with us several times and I had a feeling yesterday that if the opportunity arose, I would.
“But I think it sends a strong message about who we are as a club. I told him yesterday that he would be with us and that he had to be ready. He is ready. When he continued I said “congratulations and enjoy”.
” I do not know what it is. When I met him, when I looked at him, I had this feeling.
Arteta has insisted Arsenal will continue to give young talent first-team chances, with the Gunners boss determined to put the club’s interest first.
“We want to give chances,” said the Spaniard.
“When there is talent and personality and when the players love what they do, and when they are not afraid, the doors are open for them to explore where they can go.
“All the decisions we make, that I make, are for the club. It’s not for me, it’s not for the player.
“That’s because we think he has a talent that needs to be developed incredibly in the next few years and we’ll see how we deal with that.
“Normally it’s not us, normally the players tell you and they bother you, how far you can go on this.”
