Arsenal manager Arteta watches Nwaneri score brace for youth team 

Arsenal first team manager Mikel Arteta was in attendance at Shenley Training Centre in Hertfordshire as the Gunners U18 side came from behind to beat Aston Villa in an U18 Premier League fixture on Saturday afternoon, according to reports.

Arsenal youth team insider Jeorge Bird says Arteta and his assistant Albert Stuivenberg watched Arsenal U18s 2-1 win over Aston Villa - a game in which two teenagers of Nigerian descent started from the off for the Londoners.

While goalkeeper Brian Okonkwo made a rare start for Arsenal U18s, attack-minded player Ethan Nwaneri returned to the squad after missing the previous three games in the league.

Nwaneri's display would have impressed the watching Arteta, who saw the striker saw a brace in the last fifteen minutes of the contest.

After Finley Munroe broke the deadlock from the penalty spot, the England U17 international of Nigerian descent leveled matters when he found space to slot the ball home after he was teed up by Michał Rosiak.

Four minutes from time, Nwaneri got his name onto the scoresheet again as he tucked the ball into the bottom corner.

There has been intense speculation surrounding the future of the Anglo-Nigerian wonderkid in recent months as he is reluctant to sign a scholarship deal with Arsenal.

When Nwaneri was handed his senior debut by Arteta in Arsenal's 3-0 win at Brentford on September 18, 2022, he entered the record books as the youngest player in Premier League history.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

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