Arsenal loanee Ethan Nwaneri hasn’t ruled out a potential permanent transfer to Marseille this summer, but he was lucky to escape a red card in his most recent appearance.
Speaking to the media this week ahead of Marseille’s Coupe de France game against Stade Rennais, Ethan Nwaneri answered questions about his long-term future as a player.
Nwaneri confirmed that he doesn’t have a purchase option in his loan deal with the Ligue 1 club, but he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of making the move permanent this summer.
“Yes, that’s true, anything is possible in football,” Nwaneri said. “We’ll see what happens. We’ll see if there’s any contact. I can’t tell you what will happen. We’ll see when it happens.”
Yet there’s a long way to go before Marseille might start thinking about a permanent transfer offer. Though Nwaneri had the perfect goalscoring debut against Lens last month, things haven’t been quite so smooth since then.
Against Paris FC, Nwaneri was involved as Marseille took a 2-0 lead, and he was withdrawn before they surrendered that lead to draw 2-2. Despite not being involved in Marseille throwing away their lead, Nwaneri still came in for some criticism for his performance on the day.
Things got worse for the 18-year-old against Stade Rennais, as he was lucky not to be shown a red card for a flying challenge on former Gunner Glen Kamara. Nwaneri only received a booking, but Kamara was ultimately forced off injured, and it fortunate there was no VAR for the fixture.
Despite avoiding a red and a potential ban, Nwaneri was taken off at half-time. Marseille did at least win the match 3-0 to lessen the scrutiny on the Arsenal man.
These are all normal things to go through on a first loan spell. There will be positive moments like Nwaneri’s debut goal, but there will also be difficult moments like in the couple of games since.
The whole point of sending Nwaneri on loan is that he can experience these moments and learn from them in a competitive environment without Arsenal having to suffer the potential negative consequences in the middle of their title race.
Nwaneri will hopefully then return to Arsenal a more well-rounded player. If he does, the Gunners probably won’t have any interest in selling him on.