French Ligue 1 club Marseille have reportedly secured an agreement to sign Arsenal midfielder Ethan Nwaneri on loan until the end of the season.
The development comes despite earlier expectations that the 18-year-old would remain at the Emirates to continue his growth within a squad pushing for the Premier League title. However, the opportunity to gain consistent first-team action in a new league is said to have influenced the decision.
Nwaneri, who represents England at Under-21 level, has featured 12 times for Arsenal this campaign, starting four matches but failing to make a single Premier League start. His only goal of the season came in the Carabao Cup.
Although the highly rated midfielder signed a contract extension last summer tying him to Arsenal until 2030, breaking into Mikel Arteta’s starting XI has become more challenging following the high-profile arrivals of Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze.
Eze himself has found regular minutes hard to come by, managing just 23 minutes of action across Arsenal’s last six Premier League games and remaining an unused substitute in four of those fixtures.
During the previous season, Nwaneri was mainly deployed on the right wing, scoring nine goals in 37 appearances across all competitions, a run that reinforced his status as one of England’s most exciting young prospects.
With Madueke now the primary cover for Bukayo Saka and Eze competing with captain Martin Ødegaard for the central attacking midfield role, opportunities for regular playing time at Arsenal have become increasingly limited, making a temporary move to Marseille an attractive option.