Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has likened 16-year-old protege Ethan Nwaneri to Jack Wilshere ahead of the midfielder's potential European debut.
Nwaneri is among the Gunners' travelling contingent for Tuesday's Champions League Group B clash with PSV Eindhoven, where Arteta is expected to make changes in abundance given that a first-placed finish has already been wrapped up.
Back in September 2022, Arteta brought Nwaneri off the bench in a 3-0 Premier League win over Brentford at 15 years and 181 days, which made the Englishman the youngest-ever player to appear in the competition.
Nwaneri has not made another first-team appearance for Arsenal since, but he has made a seamless adaptation to Under-21 level, registering four goals and one assist in four Premier League 2 matches, while he netted five goals in a 7-1 FA Youth Cup thrashing of Crewe Alexandra on Saturday.
While plying his trade for the Gunners' Under-18s, the England Under-17 international worked under the wing of ex-Arsenal midfielder Wilshere, who represented the first team in North London for nearly 10 years after also coming through the club's academy ranks.
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A spate of injuries ultimately prevented Wilshere from reaching his full potential at the Emirates and forced the 31-year-old into early retirement, but he still left his mark on the Emirates turf, namely producing a masterful midfield display in a 2-1 Champions League win over Barcelona in 2011.
Speaking to the media in his pre-game press conference, Arteta stated that Nwaneri's ability to wriggle out of tight spots is similar to Wilshere, and he hailed the sporting team for tying the highly-rated midfielder down to scholarship terms this summer.
"There's something unique that he's got that I really liked from the beginning. He has the ability to take the ball in tight areas and to escape a little bit like Jack Wilshere used to do," Arteta told reporters.
"The personality he has, he trains with us like he trains with the under-18s or under-16s and I love that in a player. He's got that bit between his teeth as well that he wants to show every single day how good he is and to impress people.
"When you have someone like that, you have to give him hope and as well it was a really important moment for us because we really wanted to keep him and I think it was a strange sign for him that this is his place for him to develop."
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Should Nwaneri make an appearance on Tuesday, he would become Arsenal's youngest-ever European player in history, while his fellow academy stars Lino Sousa and Reuell Walters are both in contention to make their first-team debut at Philips Stadion.
While Arteta hailed the trio as "three big prospects", he warned his young crop that he would not be handing out debuts for the sake of it as Arsenal aim to end Group B with a flourish.
"They are three big prospects. We want to bring a lot of players from a system and they deserve to be here. The circumstances have got them into this position. They're still really, really young but we want to get them the experience because they have the talent hopefully to be very close to us. We'll try to give them the opportunity if we can in the right moment," Arteta added.
"Our duty as representatives of Arsenal is to win every game and tomorrow we need a big performance against a team that is going to make it very difficult like they have shown in the past two years here."
Tuesday's game could also see Emile Smith Rowe make his first appearance since October, having recovered from a knee injury, but Bukayo Saka is unlikely to be risked due to a foot problem, while Gabriel Martinelli has been left at home due to illness.
Ben Knapton
