AC Milan have put a loan offer with a €40m (£34m) buy option on the table for Ethan Nwaneri, and Arsenal are now being pushed into a decision they have not yet made. The bigger message came from Mikel Arteta, who said Nwaneri needs to play football and should only stay if Arsenal can guarantee him those minutes. Last season, the teenager made 37 appearances and was nominated for the PFA Young Player of the Year award.
Arteta's minutes warning
Arteta's public line was clear enough. "I want him to be at the club. But we have to consider in the medium, long term, what is best for the player as well. Ethan needs to play football. And if he stays here, it is because we can guarantee him that he can have those minutes," he told football-italia.net.
That is a serious opening for a player who has already been on Arsenal's first-team radar for a while. Nwaneri played 37 times in the 2024-25 season, then went on to collect a PFA Young Player of the Year nomination. Arteta also told the Standard that the teenager's time away opened his eyes to how much a young player can evolve in a short period.
Milan's offer and the wider interest
Milan's bid gives Arsenal a concrete proposal to assess, but it is not the only name in the background. Galatasaray have also been linked, which keeps the market alive even if Arsenal have not yet engaged Milan's offer.
The structure of the Milan move is still the key question. Metro reported the loan-with-option bid, while football-italia.net described the Italian club's approach differently and said Arsenal had not yet considered the offer. What looks settled is the player-side issue: Arteta wants minutes to be guaranteed, and without that, staying becomes far less certain.
Nwaneri's recent spell away adds to the discussion. He featured in only 6 league games before going on loan to Marseille in January, and the club's view of that period has not been entirely negative. Arteta said the experience abroad with its difficulties and challenges had opened his eyes, and that Nwaneri had shown he had the ability to be here.
Marseille itself was a mixed stop. In the recent league outings tracked there, he has five appearances, one direct goal contribution and a 6.6 average rating. That is enough to show he played, not enough to say the move has settled every question about his next step.
Arsenal's position still depends on whether the minutes are there. If they are not, Milan's approach will stay in the frame, and Nwaneri's future will remain one of the summer's more live decisions.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 4 outlets. How we work →
