‘I’m dissatisfied’ – Arsenal told they made big transfer mistake this January | Football

Jeremie Aliadiere says he was ‘dissatisfied’ to see Ethan Nwaneri leave Arsenal on loan this January because the teenager has something special that Mikel Arteta’s squad is ‘lacking’.

Nwaneri is widely regarded to be amongst essentially the most exciting young talents within the English game having broken into Arsenal’s first-team squad on the age of just 15 back in 2022.

But Nwaneri, now aged 18, struggled to nail down regular minutes for the high-flying Gunners in the primary half of the campaign, failing to make a single Premier League start under Mikel Arteta.

Arsenal bosses had initially been reluctant to think about loan offers from Premier League rivals sniffing around Nwaneri, with each West Ham and Bournemouth known to be admirers.

Nevertheless, the north London giants modified their stance when Marseille made contact to debate a short lived agreement for the England Under-21 international.

Discussions between Arsenal and Marseille progressed at a pace over the next days and Nwaneri made the trip across the Channel to finish his move to the Ligue 1 outfit last week.

Just three days after touching down in France, the teenager would go on to enjoy a dream debut as he doubled Marseille’s lead with a solo wonder strike in a 3-1 victory over Lens.

‘From an Arsenal perspective, I’m dissatisfied to see him go because I actually imagine that what he’s got is something that we haven’t got,’ ex-Arsenal forward Aliadiere told The Sun.

‘Any individual that quickly desires to go forward, tackle two, three players, go and shoot, which I feel we’re lacking for the time being.

‘His game, the pace, the ability, and like I said, he takes players on.

‘I feel for Marseille, which is a top club in France, he’s going to be a hit.’

Aliadiere, who spent three seasons with Ligue 1 club Lorient, is confident Nwaneri’s playing style is perfectly suited to the French top flight.

‘If I could have given him any advice before, I might have told him exactly what he has done, which is to go on loan for six months, but go on loan to a top club in a top division and abroad particularly,’ the Frenchman added.

‘I do feel that Ligue 1 will probably suit him higher and it’ll be an enormous success there. I even have got little question about it.’

Very like Nwaneri, Myles Lewis-Skelly – one other product of Arsenal’s Hale End academy – enjoyed a remarkable breakthrough last term before coming up against difficulties this time around.

Given Lewis-Skelly has made only one solitary start within the Premier League to this point, Aliadiere feels the 19-year-old can have benefitted from a loan move within the second half of the campaign.

‘Yeah, probably, because he’s considered one of those who, even when [Riccardo] Calafiori is injured, Mikel [Arteta] looks like he would fairly have [Jurrien] Timber down there or [Piero] Hincapie now,’ Aliadiere explained.

‘So where is Myles fitting on this pecking order? I do know by way of, probably from Mikel’s perspective, he wants to maintain as many players as he can on the club, because we’ve got so many games.

‘But then on the opposite side, you’ve got Myles, who broke into the England squad last yr and played so many games for Arsenal and doesn’t get many opportunities.

‘And with the World Cup coming up in just a few months he might be pondering, ‘What do I want to do? Because I might like to go to the World Cup. I would like to get back within the England squad. What do I want to do to get there?’

For more stories like this, check our sport page.

Follow Metro Sport for the most recent news on
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

MORE: Is Premier League dominance beginning to destroy the Champions League?

MORE: Injury expert reveals ‘one positive’ for Patrick Dorgu as Man Utd resolve substitute

MORE: Antonio Conte singles out ‘truly necessary’ Chelsea star after Champions League exit