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After much speculation that he would be sold this summer, Arsenal have seemingly reached the right conclusion. On deadline day, it was confirmed that Ethan Nwaneri has joined Borussia Dortmund on a season-long loan.
The Englishman will be hoping to enjoy his stint in Germany more than in Southern France. Last January, the teenager joined Olympique de Marseille on loan, scoring on his Ligue 1 debut against Lens, starting his first three matches over there. However, after Roberto De Zerbi was sacked, Nwaneri was cast aside, an unused substitute seven times thereafter, making his time at Stade Vélodrome something of an unmitigated disaster.
Well, die Schwarzgelben are world-renowned for their ability to develop talented youngsters, with those at Arsenal hoping Nwaneri will simply be the latest to flourish at Westfalenstadion. Still only 19 years old, he surely has a future in North London but, right now, with Martin Ødegaard and Eberechi Eze ahead of him in the pecking order, was never going to see enough playing time to make sticking around worthwhile.
In case of another nightmare scenario, Arsenal do have a recall clause in the loan deal that can be activated in January. Even setting that aside, Gooners could see how Nwaneri is getting on quicker than most might realise.
That is because, during last Thursday's Champions League draw at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund were paired. They will meet at the Emirates in November, but fans are wondering, will Nwaneri be eligible to feature?
Put succinctly, yes. UEFA rules and regulations do not prohibit loan players from facing their parent club. This allowed Piero Hincapié to start both legs of last season's round of 16 tie against Bayer Leverkusen, before his move was made permanent from die Werkself for £34.5 million this summer.
In the Premier League however, players are not permitted to feature in matches against their parent club. This came to the fore in 2023/24, when David Raya was unavailable for the two games against Brentford, which saw Aaron Ramsdale deputise, putting in main character energy performances both times, let's put it like that.
This though is not the norm. In most European leagues, loanees are allowed to go up against their parent clubs, something that is common place in Spain, Italy and other countries. British bureaucracy is very much the outlier.
So, how much of an important figure will Nwaneri be for Niko Kovač? On Tuesday night, die Schwarzgelben smashed fifth-tier Hamburg-Eimsbütteler 5-0 in the DFB-Pokal, but you can't read too much into that.
Looking at Dortmund's Bundesliga opener, a 2-0 win over Hamburg, Greek duo Konstantinos Karetsas and Giannis Konstantelias started in-behind centre-forward and scorer Serhou Guirassy. This was in Kovač's preferred 3-4-2-1 shape, which features two number ten roles, where one could envisage Nwaneri thriving, albeit there is competition for those roles.
Karetsas has just arrived from Genk for €30 million, and is one of the world's most highly-rated young prospects. He is also left-footed, so Nwaneri may have to dislodge him to get into the lineup, not to say the pair could never play together. Fellow Greek Konstantelias actually picked up an injury last weekend, meaning teenagers Samuele Inácio and Mathis Albert started the mid-week Pokal win.
Thus, it is not inconceivable that Nwaneri is in Dortmund's lineup for Saturday's clash with Hoffenheim at Rhein-Neckar-Arena. They then welcome Villarreal to Westfalenstadion for their Champions League opener next Tuesday, with the Arsenal loanee hoping to hit the ground running in Germany. Let's hope, by the time the Bundesliga side visit North London, Nwaneri is firing on all cylinders and fully showcasing his talents.
Arsenal's UEFA Champions League fixture list
- Wednesday 9 September: Napoli - Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
- Tuesday 13 October: LOSC Lille - Emirates Stadium.
- Wednesday 21 October: Bayern Munich - Allianz Arena.
- Wednesday 4 November: Slaiva Prague - Fortuna Arena.
- Tuesday 24 November: Borussia Dortmind - Emirates Stadium.
- Wednesday 9 December: Real Madrid - Emirates Stadium.
- Wednesday 20 January: Real Betis - Estadio de La Cartuja.
- Wednesday 27 January: Sabah - Emirates Stadium.
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