James McAtee revealed he was blown away by the quality Ethan Nwaneri exhibited on England Under-21 duty earlier this week.
The Arsenal teenager has enjoyed a stellar breakthrough season with his boyhood club, making his mark both in the Premier League and Champions League.
Nwaneri was, perhaps, unlucky to miss out on being parachuted straight into Thomas Tuchel’s senior England squad but made up for that disappointment by starring for Lee Carsley’s men in midweek.
Making his first start against Portugal, Nwaneri capped an impressive display with a trademark goal, cutting in from the right on his left foot and curling the ball into the far corner.
‘He’s a class player and in training he’s been unbelievable,’ City youngster McAtee told Mail Sport in Lorient after Nwaneri got his first taste of 21s football from the bench the previous week.
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‘I’m so impressed with him. I was doing finishing drills with him the other day and he was ridiculous, he wasn’t missing!
‘I was struggling to get them in and he just wasn’t missing, both feet as well. He’s a world-class player.’
Ray Parlour on Ethan Nwaneri
‘You want to play for your country whenever you can, there’s no doubt about that and I’m sure he’s the same,’ Parlour told Metro via NetBet Sports Betting. ‘As much as you want to do well for your club you also want to develop in the Under-21s and get into the senior team.
‘But you have to have plans for young players and they do sometimes need resting. You can go back to Jack Wilshere back in the day – he’d become too important for the club when he was 17 and Arsene Wenger had to play him every week because he was that good.
‘That’s a good problem to have but you also look at how things ended for Jack and don’t want to repeat that.
‘Nowadays, though, you’ve got so many people behind the scenes looking at everything – their heart rate, their sprint numbers – and checking over them. They’re like top racehorses now and are looked after probably a bit better than in my era.’
Nwaneri’s immediate focus will return to club matters with Arsenal but he will have one eye on this summer’s European Under-21 Championships.
Given the amount of football he has already played this term, Lee Carsley could be tempted to give Nwaneri the summer of and revealed he would be in constant contact with Arsenal between now and the end of the campaign.
He said: ‘What an impression he’s made.’ Carsley added. ‘It’s important that we look after him and make sure that, going to the tournament in the summer, is that the right thing.
‘We’ll obviously we’ll work with Arsenal and make sure that we’re on the same page.’
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