Nwaneri makes England u21 debut but continues to be underused | OneFootball

Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri made his debut for the England u21s on Friday night, but he continues to be underutilised by the national team.

Photo via EnglandFootball.com

In what was an exciting contest between the France and England u21 teams on Friday night, one disappointment would have been how little Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri was used.

France were leading the scoreline from the 7th minute until the 90th, but they left Nwaneri on the bench until the 78th minute of the match.

When Nwaneri eventually came on for his debut, he didn’t have much of a chance to impress, as Omari Hutchinson received a straight red-card seven minutes later to put England down to 10 men, already two goals behind. France won the match 5-3.

Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

On the one hand, Friday’s debut was another step forward for Nwaneri. The 18-year-old was celebrating his birthday that same day, and to be playing for the England u21s at this age is a credit to him.

It’s a promotion the Arsenal man has earned, having scored six goals in nine games for the England u19s to add to his eight goals for the Gunners first team this season.

Yet it’s a shame that England have opted to be so much more cautious with Nwaneri than his club teammate Myles Lewis-Skelly.

While Nwaneri was waiting to come off the bench for the England u21s, Lewis-Skelly was scoring his debut goal for Thomas Tuchel’s senior side.

In the absence of Bukayo Saka and Cole Palmer due to injury, Nwaneri could easily have done a job for the first team too. Phil Foden started instead, and Tuchel was critical of Foden’s performance after the match.

Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

If the FA insist on blooding Nwaneri in the u21s first, you can understand that approach from a development point of view. But then to leave him on the u21 bench for 71 minutes after going behind is frustrating.

Perhaps England u21 boss Lee Carsley preferred to stick with more established u21 players for the France match, but it’s honestly a failing of the England youth system that it took this long for Nwaneri to step up to this level. He could have played u21 football in any of the three previous breaks.

The fact that Nwaneri spent the first half of the season going from Champions League ties at the San Siro to u19 Euro qualifiers against Lithuania and Bulgaria was a bit odd, and not particularly useful for his development.

It was only six months ago that Nwaneri finally got a chance at a higher level than the England u17s. The FA have arguably been overly cautious with a player who made his Arsenal debut two years earlier than his England u19 debut.

The hope is that Nwaneri will at least get his first u21 start in the next game against Portugal on Monday. It’s the least his recent form deserves.