Ethan Nwaneri’s six-month loan at Marseille is threatening to turn sour, with the Arsenal youngster having failed to make the starting XI of his new side for over two months.
Nwaneri joined the French team in January with the aspiration of improving his situation under Roberto De Zerbi after having been crowded out of Mikel Arteta’s attacking pecking order following the arrivals of Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze.
But despite scoring on his debut, it appears that Nwaneri’s time at Marseille has struggled to take flight, with his last appearance in the starting line-up coming on 8 February, a 5-0 thrashing by Paris Saint-Germain in De Zerbi’s last game in charge.
Nwaneri has been left on the bench in three of the following eight fixtures, and has only once made an appearance lasting longer than half an hour – against Lille on 22 March.
The 19-year-old came on for Mason Greenwood in the 18th minute and, despite scoring the opening goal, was criticised by French media outlet GFNF, who said that he ‘regressed in the second half, losing the ball on several occasions when OM were looking to break quickly’.
He then faced the disappointment of a double substitution and was taken off for former Bournemouth midfielder Hamed Junior Traore.
L’Equipe, which previously stated that the Englishman had given a ‘persistent impression of nonchalance’ at his new side, has now revealed that Nwaneri’s loan fee at Marseille is tied to his amount of minutes.
This means that Marseille would effectively pay more the less he plays, but that does not seem to be influencing matters for new head coach Habib Beye, who has continued to leave Nwaneri out of his starting XI.
The Arsenal academy graduate signed fresh terms with the club last summer, keeping him in north London until 2030 after breaking into the first team in 2024-25, but found minutes hard to come by at the beginning of this season.
He made 12 appearances for the Gunners in all competitions prior to his move to the south of France, starting four games but none in the Premier League, and scored once in the Carabao Cup.
The departure of De Zerbi hardly helped settle matters for the youngster, given the Italian is known for his development of younger players – something which Arteta cited as a key priority for Nwaneri upon his departure.
‘Roberto is a great developer of young talent,’ the Arsenal boss said at the time. ‘He’s a really courageous manager in the way he plays with young talent as well. It fits the way of playing with the qualities we want to see for Ethan.’
De Zerbi left the club just over two weeks after Nwaneri arrived, following weeks of pressure, tensions with some players and poor results – including a 3-0 defeat at Club Brugge, which led to their exit from the Champions League, and a 5-0 thrashing by Paris Saint-Germain in the league.
Last season, Nwaneri played mostly on the right wing and scored nine goals in 37 appearances in all competitions to mark himself out as one of England’s most talented young players.
But with Madueke the first choice as back-up to Bukayo Saka, and Eze the number 10 option behind captain Martin Odegaard, Nwaneri found opportunities limited this season.
‘Talented players need to have minutes and Ethan, in this case, wasn’t having enough minutes,’ Arteta added in January. ‘The last thing I want to do is cut his development because he is such a talent.’
