MIKEL ARTETA ‘Ethan cannot be in our dressing room, which is unbelievable. Even on match day…’ Find out why:

Mikel Arteta, in a bid to overthrow Liverpool and win the Premier League title, is keen to rely on the brilliance of Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri – but the Spanish tactician has revealed why the latter is banned from the senior dressing room.

Born in 2007, Nwaneri – alongside his partner in crime, Lewis-Skelly – has become the latest crown jewel of Arsenal’s Hale End production line, which has spat out the likes of Tony Adams, Ashley Cole and Cesc Fabregas over the years.

He may have broken his senior duck two years ago, becoming the youngest player in Premier League history in the process, but 2024/25 has been earmarked as his breakthrough campaign. Thus far, he’s accrued 22 outings in all competitions.

GIVEMESPORT Key Statistic: Nwaneri is Arsenal’s youngest-ever player across their long and storied history – 15 years and 181 days old.

London born and regarded as one of the best teenagers in world football, his most notable outing this season was in Arsenal’s 5-1 thumping over Manchester City as he notched his side’s fifth, a spectacular long-range strike, of the afternoon.

Speaking ahead of Arsenal’s League Cup visit to Newcastle United, in which they have to overturn a two-goal deficit, Arteta gave a glowing assessment of Nwaneri’s glittering relationship with Lewis-Skelly. He waxed lyrical about their undeniable chemistry by saying:

“When you see those two working [Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri] next to each other, talking to each other, there’s a bond there, there’s chemistry there. So, I imagine for them, especially because, at the moment, they’re still in different dressing rooms.

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Arteta, commonly regarded as one of the best young managers in world football, then revealed that Nwaneri has to prepare for Arsenal games in a space separate to that of William Saliba, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice.

Ethan can’t be in our dressing room, which is unbelievable, he needs to get dressed somewhere else, even on matchday, so to have someone close to him that has that trust and that confidence, they’re lucky to have each other I think.

Mikel Arteta on Nwaneri & Lewis-Skelly: “When you see those two working next to each other, there’s a chemistry there. Ethan can’t be in our dressing room, even on matchday, so to have someone close to him, they’re lucky to have each other.”

That’s because Nwaneri – a nine-cap, six-goal England U19 international – is still just 17 years of age and safeguarding restrictions prevent him from getting changed in Arsenal’s first-team dressing room, as reported by The Telegraph.

He turns 18 years old on March 21, 2025, and from then onwards, the teenage phenom will be able to join his teammates in the dressing room. Elsewhere, Lewis-Skelly turned 18 in September and, as a result, is allowed to share the dressing room with the Gunners’ senior stars.

As alluded to, the small matter of beating Eddie Howe’s Newcastle in the League Cup – with a visit to Wembley firmly on the cards – is next up for Arteta and his entourage before travelling to the King Power Stadium to face a struggling Leicester City.