Thomas Tuchel is set to name his first squad as England manager, but before his officially announces the team, he has been sent a late tip for a call-up he should make
Joe Cole has urged England boss Thomas Tuchel to promote Ethan Nwaneri to the senior team.
Nwaneri has caught the eye at Arsenal since becoming the youngest man to play in the Premier League in 2022. The Gunners’ injury issues in attack have led to a breakout season for the 17-year-old.
He has scored eight goals and notched one assist in all competitions, netting Arsenal’s third in their 7-1 demoltion of PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday night. Following his impressive performances, Cole believes Nwaneri deserves England recognition.
Tuchel will soon name his squad for his first games in charge against Albania and Latvia later this month. And former Chelsea star Cole believes that Nwaneri deserves a call-up, despite not even being called up for the Under 21s yet.
“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.”
Nwaneri would join a contingent of Arsenal players who have become key men for England, including Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka. Meanwhile Ben White is in talks with Tuchel over a potential return to the Three Lions.
Like Cole, Rice believes that Nwaneri is ready to play for the national team. The midfielder branded his team-mate ‘top’ and insisted that he would be earning game-time even if Arsenal were not facing an injury crisis.
“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.”
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