Ethan Nwaneri transfer makes sense for Arsenal - but Mikel Arteta is taking one big risk

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So much of Ethan Nwaneri’s loan move to Marseille makes great sense. The chance to work with Roberto De Zerbi, to play regular games at a high level and to also get the feel of a big European club and environment. It is exciting.

And then one bit stands out and leaves a big question: what about Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang? Few players have fallen out so spectacularly - and there have been one or two - as Aubameyang with the Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta .

Aubameyang, 36, is a huge figure and personality in the Marseille dressing room and is he really going to be super positive about Arsenal and the Arsenal manager?

Learning and watching other players is a huge part of the loan experience and you do have to wonder about Aubameyang’s reflections and memories of one of the most spectacular fall-outs between manager and star player in the Premier League era.

In fairness, Aubameyang revealed last year he had a “great message” from Arteta after they parted ways and the ex-Arsenal striker said he would be open to another conversation.

But one of the reasons Nwaneri has gone to Marseille is that he just was not getting game time at Arsenal. He has not made a start in the Premier League and his last start came in the FA Cup at Portsmouth when he played well.

This was a player who was persuaded to stay at Arsenal last summer with a big contract and words from the manager that he would get his chance and that is why Nwaneri turned down Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea .

You can never tell how things work out but it is hard to imagine that Nwaneri would have got fewer games at either of those clubs than he has at Arsenal.

There must be a degree of frustration there from a player who is loved by the Arsenal fans, they can see his skill and promise. They want him to get games, too. And now he is having to leave Arteta and Arsenal to get there.

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It was a seriously bad parting of the ways for Aubameyang and a rather protracted exit amid very public rows, being dropped and then being forced out.

It was a real head-to-head. That was arguably one of the defining moments of Arteta’s reign. It was a gamble to get rid of Arsenal’s main man, the crowd favourite and top scorer.

But Arteta felt wronged and could not allow a senior player, a player who had become captain to set a bad tone in the dressing room with his time-keeping.

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The first big fall-out was in March 2021 when Aubameyang turned up late for a North London derby and was duly dropped. Arteta went public rather than find a diplomatic answer. Aubameyang cited bad traffic for his lateness. That moment eroded trust between the pair.

They had actually had a strong relationship before that and it was Arteta who actually persuaded Aubameyang to sign a new contract after winning the FA Cup in 2020 and that remains the Arsenal manager’s only trophy to this date.

It eroded from there. Returning late from a sanctioned visit to see his ill mother. Missing a Covid test. Stripped of the captaincy.

Then, incredibly, he was pictured in Barcelona on deadline day in February 2022. It was at first described as a shopping trip. But the outcome was pretty clear. Arsenal did a deal and Aubameyang joined Barca.

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Later, he went to Chelsea. Arsenal fans are now more Arteta than Aubameyang who has expressed his love for the club despite the fall-out.

But it is clearly a calculated risk on Arsenal’s part. The biggest thing which Nwaneri must add to his game is pressing. That is the reason why he has not been in the team. If he wants to play No10 then he has to lead the press like Martin Odegaard.

De Zerbi builds pressing teams. He can instil that in Nwaneri. But the lessons in any dressing room can be just as important.

That is why it seems an odd move. But Aubameyang will always have a place in the hearts of Arsenal fans. And some nice words, good encouragement and much-needed help for Nwaneri will go a long way to securing a complete kiss-and-make up.

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