Harvey Elliott responds with two-word message to Ethan Nwaneri's post

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Ethan Nwaneri has done his chances of a senior England call-up no harm as he prepares to return to Arsenal after the international break.

Nwaneri’s form since becoming an established first-team player in North London has resulted in justified calls for the teenager, who only turned 18 four days ago, to be fast-tracked into Thomas Tuchel’s setup.

Tuchel avoided such a drastic selection call when naming his first 26-player squad for this month’s matches against Albania and Latvia, with Morgan Gibbs-White called up after Cole Palmer withdrew.

Gibbs-White not being given a single minute across either match drew criticism, but also highlighted the sheer number of options Nwaneri will have to overtake if he’s to make the jump into the senior squad.

While players like Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham, Marcus Rashford, Eberechi Eze, Morgan Rogers and Jarrod Bowen have all starred for England during the break, Nwaneri has also been making waves.

Ethan Nwaneri given two-word verdict after England display

Having made his debut for England’s Under-21s side – stepping up two rungs from the Under-19s – in their end-to-end, incident-filled 5-3 loss to France on 21 March, Nwaneri started from the off on Monday.

Nwaneri took 10 minutes of his first Under-21s start to find the net against Portugal at The Hawthorns, doubling England’s lead after Hayden Hackney’s opener three minutes prior and doing so in style.

Collecting a pass from Jobe Bellingham, Nwaneri dribbled into space, turned his way through a wall of Portugal players, and curled home a left-footed strike which defied his 18 years.

Nwaneri’s post on Instagram after the result (24 March) was headlined by his celebration with Harvey Elliott, and the Liverpool midfielder commented to call the Gunners forward a “Young star”.

England progression surely on the cards for Ethan Nwaneri

Having already been in the running for a place in the senior squad, Nwaneri’s immediate impact for England Under-21s suggests it won’t be long before he’s outgrown that level of international football.

Nwaneri has made drifting in off the right to create or execute chances his speciality in Mikel Arteta‘s side this season, stepping up to the plate in the absence of Arsenal’s star man, Bukayo Saka.

Saka’s absence wasn’t quite felt to the extent feared amongst Tuchel’s senior squad given the plethora of options, but it’s surely only a matter of time before Nwaneri establishes himself at the very top.

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