The 17-year-old became the youngest man to play in the Premier League in 2022 and has since become a standout player for manager Mikel Arteta who has clearly found the perfect replacement for Bukayo Saka this season. Nwaneri has scored eight goals and notched one assist in all competitions and continues to prove himself as one of Europe’s elite young players.
England boss Tuchel will soon name his squad for his first games in charge against Albania and Latvia later this month. Cole believes Nwaneri deserves a call-up even if he hasn’t been featured on the U21 side yet, which is unusual for a player of his caliber.
"For me, he’s so good that he doesn’t need the U21s," Cole told TNT Sports. "In my opinion, he’s that good. He needs to go straight in with Thomas Tuchel, get around the squad and get some minutes.
"He’s an England player for the next 10-15 years. Wonderful talent, great mentality, he’s at the right club at the right time. I’ll be stunned if Tuchel doesn’t have a good look at him and bring him in to his first squad.
"I think is going to be an absolute genius. I think he’s the most exciting footballer in England and maybe Europe. What he’s doing is incredible."
With Saka out for the season, the German head coach will be looking for a replacement and who better than the teenager who has practically stolen his lime light since being given the chance under Arteta. Rice recently spoke about the young talent and what he brings to the Arsenal side who are fighting for the title as well as European glory.
"He’s top," Rice said. "He’s 17-years-old and he’s on the biggest stage. We’ve taken them (youngsters) under our wing and they deserve to be playing. You should see them train they way they have no fear and want to perform.
"Even if (Bukayo) Saka was here Ethan would be still getting minutes because he’s that good and works so hard in training. We were fluid, enthusiasm, the drive and hunger in the knockout phase of the Champions League.
"But we’ve been playing like this all season. We feel we’ve been playing well as a team sometimes we score five, sometimes two sometimes we don’t score but tonight we did well. We had the opportunity to score more second half especially."