Arsenal remain confident of new Nwaneri contract | OneFootball

Arsenal are understood to remain confident that Ethan Nwaneri will sign a new deal with the club.

Nwaneri’s current contract runs out next summer, having been unable to sign a longer-term deal with the Gunners until he turned 18.

But having now done so, Nwaneri is able to put pen to paper on a longer deal and follow in the footsteps of close friend and team-mate Myles Lewis-Skelly, who has signed a new five-year contract with the club.

Nwaneri broke into the first team last season and impressed, helping to ease Arsenal’s injury crisis. He scored nine times in all competitions, playing 37 times.

Chelsea are believed to be among the clubs to have an interest in the Hale End academy star, while Arsenal are keen to sign Noni Madueke from the Blues this summer. But the Gunners do not want to entertain any prospect of selling Nwaneri and are firmly focused on agreeing a new contract with him.

“I think a lot of the delay in terms of the contract situation has been effected by Nwaneri playing with the England U21s at the European Championship in which he brought home a winners medal,” Football London’s chief Arsenal writer Tom Canton explains.

“He wasn’t a regular starter but he was regularly involved from the bench in that team.

“With him returning, a delayed return compared with many of his Arsenal team-mates, those discussions will then take much more of a positive turn.

“Yes there’s interest from other clubs of course. He’s only got a year left on his current deal because you can only sign a limited deal when you’re at a young age.

“I don’t think there’s as much jeopardy as has been bandied around that has concerned Arsenal fans. Overall I think it’s heading in a positive direction.”

The signing of Madueke might suggest Nwaneri, who has played largely on the right wing for Arsenal, might see his game time more limited. But Nwaneri’s future could instead lie in a more central role as an attacking midfielder.

Tying Nwaneri down to a new deal would add to what has already been a busy summer at Arsenal. They have already completed the £60m signing of midfielder Martin Zubimendi and £5m signing of Kepa Arrizabalaga, and are set to confirm the addition of Christian Norgaard from Brentford.

They are also hoping to agree deals to sign striker Viktor Gyokeres from Sporting and Madueke from Chelsea, while Ebere Eze is someone they are considering making a move for too.

That will need to be balanced out by outgoings, however. Oleksandr Zinchenko could depart this summer along with Fabio Vieira and Reiss Nelson.