Ethan Nwaneri\u2019s loan to Olympique Marseille remains to be officially confirmed by the club, but the 18-year-old has already outlined the influences behind the decision. Beyond the promise of playing time, Nwaneri pointed to Marseille\u2019s reputation and the voices he trusts within Arsenal as decisive factors.<\/p>\n
In an early conversation with French reporters, arriving in France via FootMercato, Nwaneri said: \u201cIt\u2019s one of the best clubs in the world, with incredibly passionate fans.\u201d He added that a team-mate had reinforced that view: \u201cWilliam Saliba told me it\u2019s one of the best clubs in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saliba\u2019s endorsement carries weight. The centre back\u2019s own career trajectory was revived in France after a period when his teenage potential looked to be burning out. Saliba initially stayed on loan at Saint-\u00c9tienne after signing for Arsenal in 2019, and he was left out of senior squads in the first half of 2020\u201321 following his move to London. Arsenal considered a Championship loan for him, but a promising six months at OGC Nice led to a 2021\u201322 spell with Marseille that proved pivotal.<\/p>\n
Saliba was named Ligue 1\u2019s Young Player of the Year and was integrated into Mikel Arteta\u2019s squad soon after, becoming one of the best defenders in the world within a matter of months. Reflecting on that period to L\u2019\u00c9quipe, Saliba described it as a \u201cvery big turning point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nwaneri\u2019s immediate playing prospects also informed the decision. He had dropped down the pecking order at Arsenal in two positions following last summer\u2019s captures of Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke. Another element that appealed to both player and parent club was the Marseille coach. Nwaneri labelled the Marseille boss \u201cone of the best coaches in the world,\u201d and it was also reported this week that Arsenal are specifically \u201cattracted\u201d to the idea of their 18-year-old talent working with the Italian.<\/p>\n
The move combines unfinished development at Arsenal with a club environment both Saliba and Nwaneri regard highly. The loan will be judged on the minutes and growth the 18-year-old secures in Marseille.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nwaneri explains Saliba’s role in his loan to Marseille and why De Zerbi appealed to Arsenal. (loan)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,1163],"tags":[1081,1393],"class_list":["post-6148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-transfers","tag-adaptation","tag-centre-back"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}