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Former Aston Villa forward Gabriel Agbonlahor has questioned Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta's decision to play 15-year-old midfielder Ethan Nwaneri against Brentford on September 18.
The Gunners earned a 3-0 victory over the Bees in the Premier League at the Brentford Community Stadium. William Saliba and Gabriel Jesus continued their blistering start to the season as they scored brilliant headers in the first half. They put the north London outfit 2-0 up at the break.
Fabio Vieira then took an ambitious shot from outside the box and slotted it past the goalkeeper. The Gunners secured all three points and catapulted themselves to the top of the league table.
Nwaneri featured in a brief appearance for the Gunners after Arteta brought him off the bench in stoppage time. He became the youngest ever player in the Premier League history after featuring against Brentford.
Despite a worthy performance from Arteta's side, however, Agbonlahor found fault with the Spaniard's decision to select a youngster like Nwaneri in his squad. He said (via Football Insider):
“For me, I thought it was quite strange. I’m all up for young players getting a chance but you want to see it for the right reasons, you want them to have earnt their chance to play Premier League football. Sometimes managers can do it for the sake of ‘I want to be the manager who has played the youngest ever player, it will go down in history’."
Agbonlahor added:
"Really, there were other options he could have brought on from the bench who probably deserved to get on. Don’t bring on someone for the sake of it. It’s like Rushian Hepburn-Murphy at Villa, he was ready for his debut. He didn’t get his chance just because Tim Sherwood wanted to play a young player."
The retired England international concluded:
“It’s very strange and it wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t play again in the Premier League all season.”
Arsenal boss explains why he gave 15-year-old midfielder Premier League debut
Arteta explained why he gave Nwaneri his Premier League debut in Arsenal's victory over Brentford in a post-match interview. The Spanish boss claimed that the 15-year-old talent was ready to start in an Arsenal shirt.
He said (per the club's official website):
"It was a feeling that I had yesterday, I don’t know why. The first day I met him I looked him in his eyes and everyone was telling me about him, Per was telling me about him, and because of the injuries we only have 12 or 13 senior players yesterday to put in the squad and we decided to bring him, and that’s it."
Arsenal are currently first in the Premier League standings. The Gunners will next face Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates on October 1.
