Arsenal: Mikel Arteta explains why Ethan Nwaneri is not allowed in senior dressing room

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·4. Februar 2025

Arsenal: Mikel Arteta explains why Ethan Nwaneri is not allowed in senior dressing room

The 17-year-old gets ready for games away from his team-mates

Mikel Arteta has revealed how safeguarding rules mean Ethan Nwaneri has to get ready in a different dressing room to his Arsenal team-mates on match days.

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Nwaneri has broken into Arsenal’s first team this season and the 17-year-old scored his seventh goal of the campaign on Sunday during a 5-1 victory over Manchester City.

Fellow academy graduate Myles Lewis-Skelly has also burst onto the scene and the 18-year-old scored his first senior goal in the win against City.

Arteta believes the pair, who are good friends, have been helped by the fact they have broken into the first team at the same time.

And the Arsenal boss thinks that has been even more helpful for Nwaneri as he is unable to get ready in the same changing rooms as his team-mates on match day.

Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly after beating Man City

Arsenal FC via Getty Images

Safeguarding rules mean that players must be 18 or older to share a dressing room with the senior squad.

Lewis-Skelly, after turning 18 in September, is able to be part of the first-team dressing room on matchdays - but Nwaneri must get changed elsewhere before joining in with the final team talk.

“When you see those two (Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri) walking next to each other, talking to each other, there is a bond there and a chemistry there,” said Arteta.

“I imagine for them it is special because at the moment they are still in different dressing rooms [at the training ground].

“Ethan cannot be in our dressing room still, which is unbelievable. He needs to get dressed somewhere else, even on match day.

“So to have somebody close to him that has that trust, that confidence, that link, I think it is lucky. They are very lucky to have each other.”