Arsenal have been blessed with some utterly incredible players over the years.
Up top, the likes of Thierry Henry, Robert Pirès, and Dennis Bergkamp toyed with Premier League defenders on a weekly basis.
Then, at the back, Tony Adams, Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole and Martin Keown made defending look like a piece of cake.
Likewise, midfielders like Mesut Özil, Patrick Vieira, and Santi Cazorla have helped make the Gunners a team fans have loved to watch, regardless of the era.
Excitingly, the club now has another midfield superstar in the making on their hands, someone who could be looked at as a hybrid of former stars Cesc Fàbregas and Jack Wilshere.
What made Fabregas and Wilshere so special
Fàbregas made the move to Arsenal from Barcelona in the summer of 2003 for around £2m, which was quite a lot of money for someone who was still just 16 years old at the time.
It didn’t take long for the Spaniard to feature in the first team, as he started a League Cup clash with Rotherman United in October of that year, and by the end of the following season he had already made 49 first team appearances, more than justifying talent scout Jacek Kulig’s later claim that he was “one of the best U21s in Premier League history.”
The mercurial midfielder was named captain in November 2008, and while he was seen as the key player in the squad by many, he would eventually push for a move back to Barça in the summer of 2011, with a tally of 57 goals and 95 assists in 303 games for the North Londoners.
Appearances
303
Starts
266
Minutes
23847′
Goals
57
Assists
95
Goal Involvements per Match
0.50
Minutes per Goal Involvement
156.88
Points per Game
1.99
A few years before the Spaniard left for his old club, Arsène Wenger gave a competitive debut to another promising young midfielder by the name of Wilshere in a game against Blackburn Rovers, who at just 16 became the club’s youngest-ever league debutant.
While the Englishman would make several appearances over the following couple of years, his real breakout campaign came in the 10/11 season, when he racked up 11 goal involvements in 49 games.
Moreover, it was this season that he’d have his sensational headline-grabbing game against Barcelona in the Champions League, a game in which, as a teenager, he bossed a midfield of Andrés Iniesta and Xavi.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t long after that legendary performance that he started to suffer from ankle injury after ankle injury that ultimately scuppered his chance of becoming the world-beating midfielder so many expected him to become.
However, while his injuries are impossible to ignore, Wilshere still managed to make 197 appearances for his boyhood club, in which he produced 42 goal involvements and won two FA Cups.
While their Arsenal careers came to an end, Fabregas and Wilshere were some of the best midfielders Arsenal had during the late 2000s and early 2010s, so fans should be delighted that they’ve now got another player who feels like a hybrid of both.
The Arsenal player who's a Fabregas & Wilshere hybrid
There is an abundance all over this current Arsenal team, and the midfield is no different.
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Martin Zubimendi and Declan Rice are a nightmare to play against, Mikel Merino has gone up another gear in terms of his attacking prowess, and Martin Odegaard has the ability to change games.
However, when it comes to a player who’s a hybrid of Wilshere and Fabregas, there is only one star who comes to mind: Ethan Nwaneri.
For example, when he came off the bench against Brentford three years ago, he took the mantle of becoming the club’s youngest-ever league debutant.
Moreover, the Enfield-born gem hasn’t bulldozed his way into first-team football thanks to having freakish physical attributes, but instead through being incredibly technical.
Like the Spaniard was once able to, the 18-year-old gem has already shown an ability to play a pinpoint accurate pass from the middle of the park or play quick one-twos with teammates.
However, he is also unbelievable with the ball at his feet, and as Arteta has already pointed out, he has the ability to dance his way out of tight areas a bit like “Wilshere used to do.”
On top of that, being from London and coming up through Hale End from a very young age, the 18-year-old has something of that connection to the fans that his compatriot used to have during his playing days.
Finally, with a brilliant tally of nine goals and two assists in just 40 appearances, the £48m-rated star has shown he can be as influential on proceedings as Wilshere and Fabregas were as youngsters. As Arsenal writer Adam Keys noted, “Arteta is creating a monster”.
Ultimately, while he still has plenty of developing to do, Arsenal look like they have a future superstar on their hands in Nwaneri.