Roberto De Zerbi is adamant Ethan Nwaneri will become a ‘top player’ after the Arsenal loanee scored on his Marseille debut.
Nwaneri agreed to spent the rest of the 2025-26 season on loan at the French club after struggling for minutes under Mikel Arteta.
The midfielder, who became the youngest player in Premier League history when he made his Arsenal debut in 2022, was a regular for the Gunners last season but has not started a league game this term.
Nwaneri found the back of the net just a day after his move to Marseille as Roberto De Zerbi’s side beat Lens in Ligue 1.
The 18-year-old’s curled effort doubled Marseille’s lead at Stade Velodrome after Amine Gouiri broke the deadlock inside four minutes.
Gouri added Marseille’s third in the second half before previously top-placed Lens scored a consolation goal through Rayan Fofana.
The deserved victory sent Marseille to within five points of second-placed Lens and seven behind title favourites and Champions League holders PSG.
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‘We defended well and deserved to win,’ De Zerbi said after the victory. ‘I would have liked to score more but they are a very strong team that deserves its place.
‘If we manage to reproduce this level consistently, we will be a solid team. Otherwise, we won’t go anywhere.’
On Arsenal academy graduate Nwaneri, De Zerbi added: ‘Ethan will become a top player, I’m sure about that.
‘You can see the quality, the impact… he’s so good, same for [fellow January signing] Quinten Timber.’
Despite joining Marseille on loan, Nwaneri is seen as a future first-team regular by Arsenal, who handed him a new contract until 2030 in the summer.
But his game-time dried up in the first-half of the season after Arsenal signed Noni Madueke from Chelsea and Eberechi Eze from Crystal Palace.
Explaining his decision to loan out Nwaneri, Gunners boss Arteta said: ‘I think the talented young players that we have need minutes, and in this case, Ethan wasn’t having enough minutes, and the last thing that we want is to cut his development because he’s such a talent and someone who lives and breathes football; that’s his life.
‘After discussing it with him, his father, the agent, and the club, we decided the best thing to do was to leave and go on loan.
‘Then we have to pick the right place, and having all the options, understand the experience that we had in Marseille as well with [William Saliba].
‘The fact that Roberto [De Zerbi] is there and he’s an incredible developer of young talent and he’s a really courageous manager in the way he plays, the way he plays with young talent as well and he has a big track record about that.
‘I think it fits the way of playing for the qualities that we want to see for Ethan. So it’s going to be a great experience for him.’
Nwaneri’s next assignment for Marseille will be a Champions League clash against Club Brugge on Wednesday night.
Marseille are currently 19th in the Champions League table with the top-eight advancing straight to the knockout stages and the next 16 sides going into a play-off.
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