Just how good is Ethan Nwaneri?

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SCOUTED Stats

With no SCOUTED Stats section in the previous MNS newsletter, I have tried to include any records we would have missed last week. Remember, unless explicitly stated, all records refer to single-game highs from players under the age of 23 in Big Five European League matches in 2024/25.

Just how good is Ethan Nwaneri?

It is grossly unfair to expect a 17-year-old to carry your team, regardless of the number of injuries you have suffered. However, on Saturday lunchtime at the King Power Stadium, 2007-born Ethan Nwaneri did just that.

When compared to the rest of the Arsenal team, Nwaneri was the outright leader for nine different metrics against Leicester City, and joint-leader for four others.

He completed as many dribbles as the rest of his teammates combined (7) and was directly involved in 54.5% of the team’s 11 shots, attempting four and assisting two - one of which was the assist for Mikel Merino’s opening goal.

Following this latest display, Nwaneri is closing on second spot for Shot-Ending Carries despite playing at least 1,000 minutes fewer than Arsenal’s first-choice forwards. A fearless approach to carrying the ball into dangerous areas and an appetite for shooting has been absent since Bukayo Saka’s injury. Nwaneri has restored it.

But just how good was Nwaneri’s individual display and how rare is it for a 17-year-old to ‘drop’ it? Let’s take a look.

The effortless excellence of Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí have warped perceptions of what to expect from a 17-year-old at the highest level; tireless comparisons between Nwaneri and Yamal will now dominate social media timelines. So, to prove that they are both incredible attacking anomalies, I dived head first into a Stathead rabbit hole to try to benchmark expectations for a 17-year-old in the Premier League and across Europe’s Big Five Leagues.

First, let’s look at the individual match performance. Stathead goes back to 2017/18 for most advanced metrics so this will provide a window into the rarity of this display across the past eight seasons. Only four different 17-year-olds have 7+ Take-Ons Completed (TOC) in a single match in that time. You will notice Nwaneri is the first to do so in the Premier League.

Now let’s bolt on Carries into the Penalty Area (CPA). From a database of well over 1,000 games, only twice has a 17-year-old have recorded 5+ CPA and 5+ TOC: Lamine Yamal and Ethan Nwaneri are responsible. If we add Shot-Creating Actions (SCA) in place of CPA, Ander Barrenetxea, Rayan Cherki, Gavi and Florian Wirtz appear. If we combine SCA and CPA, the search returns just four different 17-year-olds. However, as you will see in the below screenshot, Yamal and Nwaneri are the only 17-year-olds on record to record 5+ Take-Ons, 5+ Shot-Creating Actions and 5+ Carries into the Penalty Area in a single Big Five European League game.

For a bit of further context, Yamal’s 13 Shot-Creating Actions from that game against Rayo Vallecano is the most recorded by a teenager in a Big Five European League game this season and the most recorded by a 17-year-old since 2017/18 - the database record of 15 was set by a 19-year-old Rayan Cherki in February 2023.

To investigate and illustrate the level of trust placed in these two generational talents, I believe we can use Touches in the Attacking Third and Progressive Passes Received. Nwaneri clocked 20+ of each against Leicester - it turns out that is pretty rare.

Once again, it should be no surprise to learn that Lamine Yamal is the only U17 player with 60+ Touches in the Attacking Third in a Big Five European League game as well as the only one to receive 30+ Progressive Passes. And he did it at 16 years old.

So, we have established that this pair of 2007ers are statistical freaks based on their personal best match output. Now it’s time to look at Nwaneri through the lens of the Premier League.

Although the following screenshots include all players starting a Big Five European League campaign aged 18 or younger, I will refer to the record for those starting at 17 or younger.

Michael Owen, arguably the original wonderkid, holds the record for most minutes played in a Premier League season by an U17 player; Wayne Rooney, Gareth Barry, James Milner, Willie Boland and Cesc Fàbregas are the only others to clock 2,000 minutes. Even if Nwaneri played every single minute of the remaining 13 games, he would miss this mark by 450 minutes. Myles Lewis-Skelly would miss out by 204.

Nwaneri already holds Arsenal's single-season record for Premier League goals scored when starting the season as an U17 player. He would need an incredible 16 more to break Owen’s record - but maybe he could become the third to reach double figures.

Nwaneri’s assist for Merino was his first for Arsenal so it is unlikely that he will break another Owen record. But he should definitely target the club record held by Cesc Fàbregas and Bukayo Saka.

Finally, even if Nwaneri falls just short of those individual milestones, he could still add himself to the list of five players to be directly involved in 10+ goals in a Premier League season when starting the campaign under the age of 18.

Just six more G/A needed to join the club. Based on what we saw against Leicester, I don’t think we’ll need to wait too long.

Como, Como, Como, Como, Como Chameleon

You will have noticed a handful of Cesc Fàbregas mentions in the Nwaneri section. That’s because he was arguably the greatest midfield wonderkid in Premier League history. Now 37 years old, he’s looking to build a reputation as a managerial prodigy.

This weekend, Como 1907 beat UEFA Champions League-chasing Fiorentina 0-2, ending a three-game losing streak and taking Fàbregas’ side five points clear of relegation. New signing Assane Diao opened the scoring before Nico Paz sealed the deal. It is the Argentinian that I want to focus on.

On the teamsheet, Paz has most often been deployed as the No.10, as we can see through this beautiful Opta Analyst visualisation.

A closer look at his heat map paints the picture of a completely free-roaming, multi-phase Omni-10. Despite being left-footed, he displays no severe preference for operating on the orthodox or inverted side.

His goal against Fiorentina was an Inverted Winger Textbook finish - this is definitely his preferred shooting angle, again visible through another visualisation, this time an xG Shot Map.

But there is a delightful variety in his Key Pass locations, ranging from more classic Inverted Winger angles to deep through balls and even cut-backs from the byline.

My big working theory at the moment is there will be a return to fluency and in-game position swapping. Mostly between wingers, but the new-age attacking midfielders may also partake to maximise chance-creating angles and destabilise aggressive man-marking approaches. Paz displaying this level of positional dexterity at such a young age - a chameleon, if you will - makes him an incredibly valuable squad-building asset.

In the win against win against Fiorentina, Fàbregas appeared to deploy him as False Nine. However, the Average Positions suggested that the idea was to create a 3-5-2 with Nico dovetailing with Diao at the top. This screams reverse through-balls into space: close your eyes and you can see Paz dancing in-field before releasing Diao in behind. This tactical tweak could take both young players to another level. That being said, Paz has already established him as one of the best young players in Europe. I’ll prove it.

In this case, young players will refer to outfielders born in 2003 or later - the Jamal Musiala, Florian Wirtz, Jude Bellingham generation - of which 498 have made at least one appearance this season. Among these players, only Emanuel Emegha (12.2) and Jamal Musiala (6.8) have generated more Non-Penalty xG than Nico Paz (6.6). For Expected Assisted Goals, Paz ranks just outside the top 10. When combining the two metrics, Paz is among the five players to reach double figures, ranks third behind Emegha and Lamine Yamal and ahead of Musiala and Wirtz.

Paz leads all 2003+ players for Shots (77) and Shots On Target (28), while ranking third for Key Passes (40). When combining these two metrics into Shot Involvements, only Nico Paz (117), Lamine Yamal (106) and Florian Wirtz (101) reach triple figures. Looking purely at Shot-Creating Actions, only Wirtz and Paz remain part of the centurions.

When looking at these metrics through the ‘Per Touch’ lens, Paz looks even more ridiculous. You may have clocked in the above screenshot, Paz has had nearly half as many Touches in the Attacking 3rd when compared to Wirtz. This translates to 9.2 Touches per Shot Involvement for Paz and 15.1 for Wirtz. When looking at Shot-Creating Actions Excluding Dead-Balls, Paz averages 12 Touches per Open-play SCA compared to Wirtz’s 13.6. - use the interactive Scatter Graph below to explore these metrics further (you'll need to view this email in a browser for this to work).

Whichever way you slice it, Paz is one of the best. Here’s my final example: only five 2003+ players have attempted 25+ Shots, played 25+ Key Passes, completed 25+ Take-Ons and made 25+ Tackles in Europe’s Big Five Leagues this season: Kenan Yıldız, Jude Bellingham, Jamal Musiala, Florian Wirtz and Nico Paz.

According to Fabrizio Romano, Real Madrid could activate an €8m buy-back clause for Paz this summer, he is worth at least 5x that. Whether they do trigger that option or simply bank on the 50% sell-on clause, I have absolutely no doubt that unless Como have €40m to spend, he will not be playing for them under Fàbregas next season. A shame, but a reflection of his obscene talent.

That's all for now. See you next week!

Jake