Arsenal are hoping to scale the walls erected around the elusive Premier League trophy this season. After narrowly missing out against Manchester City in successive years, Mikel Arteta will hope that third-time lucky is realised in north London.
In both of the previous two campaigns, Arsenal had looked like favourites at one stage but were felled by the ludicrous late-season form that Man City invariably string together each year.
After signing Raheem Sterling, Riccardo Calafiori and Mikel Merino this summer, while only shipping out the fringier players in Arteta's squad, there is hope that this could finally be the year.
There have been some wonderful stories that have hatched during this incremental rise over the past four-and-a-half years, but none more so than that of Bukayo Saka, who might just be the cream of the crop.
What makes Bukayo Saka so special
Hale End's finest. Saka made his professional debut back in November 2018, coming off the bench in the Europa League against Vorskla Poltava to contribute toward a 3-0 victory.
Saka, who has just turned 23, has since enjoyed a meteoric rise to the forefront of the European scene, scoring 59 goals and adding 56 assists across 229 appearances and winning the 2019/20 FA Cup and two Community Shields.
A maverick on the right flank, the England international ranks among the top 14% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for goals scored, the top 9% for assists, the top 8% for shot-creating actions and the top 13% for tackles per 90, as per FBref.
Premier League
173
48
38
Europa League
25
5
9
FA Cup
11
1
1
Champions League
9
4
4
Carabao Cup
9
1
2
Community Shield
2
0
2
He's one of a kind… or is he? What if Arsenal had another homegrown talent waiting to burst onto the scene? It's a name that many will already be acquainted with: Ethan Nwaneri is gearing up to become the Gunners' latest prodigy.
The player to follow in Saka's footsteps
Nwaneri is the youngest debutant in Premier League history, first gracing the grass aged only 15 years and 188 days, replacing Fabio Vieira.
The 17-year-old has scored 27 goals and claimed ten assists across 53 matches at youth level, though now he's at the stage when he could take the leap into regular first-team action.
He's been an unused substitute across each of Arsenal's opening Premier League fixtures of the campaign. Last season, he sat on the bench against West Ham United in the top-flight defeat at the Emirates before coming off the bench to make his divisional debut in the reverse fixture, but that was the extent of his action.
Arteta's decision to place him in the matchday squad each week suggests that he's enjoying a speedy rise indeed, and it's conceivable to think that he could earn sporadic minutes throughout the campaign, especially so when considering the congested nature of Arsenal's term.
Make no mistake, he's held in very high regard. Hailed as the "absolute diamond" of Arsenal's youth system by talent scout Jacek Kulig, Nwaneri is starting to take notes from club captain Martin Odegaard as he looks to fashion his way toward the limelight.
Odegaard, Arsenal's midfield general, has been a maestro and monster both in the middle over the past few years, winning the Player of the Season for two years running, and though Arsenal will hope that he remains for many years yet, Nwaneri could be the perfect understudy.
Analyst and Arsenal supporter Ben Mattinson has even mused that the teenager's "best position is likely to be as a no. 10/second striker. Similar to where Odegaard played last season [2022/23]".
Odegaard is a box-crashing master and this is something that Nwaneri could utilise for his own skillset. After all, he evidenced as much after scoring three goals across four fixtures at the U17 European Championship.
Arteta will need to manage the precocious talent's workload across the coming year (and beyond) but this is a player whose talent and blooming ability belies his youthful years.
Take, for example, his cameo against West Ham last year, during the emphatic 6-0 drubbing. The data pool is slim but the England U19 international completed 83% of his passes, made a key pass and won two of his three contested duels, as per Sofascore.
This is the kind of tenacious, rounded and physical approach that has served Saka so well. Oh sure, the £195k-per-week superstar is an exceptional technician with unmatched tactical nous, but he's also an able defender, having moonlit as a left-back in the past.
Moreover, as mentioned earlier, Saka ranks among the top 13% of positional peers for tackles per 90, illuminating the attacking machine's dynamic quality, something that has set him apart from the lion's share of talented hopefuls in the Premier League and spread across Europe.
Mattinson has admitted that Nwaneri could "play in many" different positions as he steps onto the senior scene, but there's little question that his multi-functionality makes a crucial comment on his ability to thrive in the centre of the park.
Offering defensive security that will only solidify further over coming years, Nwaneri is at his core an immense technical talent with an eye for goal and the other for a defence-splitting pass.
He could be the next Odegaard, walking the same trail toward stardom that Saka traversed at the beginning of his glittering career. Arsenal, you better believe it, only continue to rise.
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