"I’m so impressed with him" - Manchester City's James McAtee hails 'world-class' Arsenal star

James McAtee was in awe of Arsenal ace Ethan Nwaneri for his performance for England U-21 during the ongoing international break. The Manchester City youngster expressed his admiration for Nwaneri and labeled him a world-class player.

Nwaneri has enjoyed stellar outings in an Arsenal shirt this season, making a mark in every competition he has featured in for the north London club.

While Nwaneri couldn’t make it into Thomas Tuchel’s 26-man squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, he was compensated with a call-up by the Three Lions U-21 manager Lee Carsley.

England first played against France in a friendly match on March 21. Interestingly, Nwaneri came on as a substitute in the closing stages of the match, replacing McAtee.

The Hale End graduate was in the starting lineup in England’s matchup with Portugal. He made sure he impressed as he was on the scoresheet in the 4-2 win.

In the aftermath of the 4-2 win over Portugal, McAtee waxed lyrical about the Arsenal man. The Manchester City star told Mail Sport (via Metro):

‘‘He’s a class player and in training he’s been unbelievable. ‘I’m so impressed with him. I was doing finishing drills with him the other day and he was ridiculous, he wasn’t missing!

‘‘I was struggling to get them in and he just wasn’t missing, both feet as well. He’s a world-class player.''

In the ongoing season, Ethan Nwaneri has scored 8 goals and provided one assist for Arsenal in 29 appearances across competitions.

''They do sometimes need resting'' – Ray Parlour warns against overusing Arsenal star Ethan Nwaneri

While Ethan Nwaneri has been capturing the attention of fans with his decent performances, former Arsenal player Ray Parlour has advised against mismanaging the player to avoid burnout or long-term injuries.

Parlour referred to how Jack Wilshere’s immense talents at a young age saw Arsene Wenger use him in almost every game and pointed out how injuries later curtailed his playing time.

‘‘You want to play for your country whenever you can, there’s no doubt about that and I’m sure he’s the same,’’ Parlour told Mirror. ‘’As much as you want to do well for your club you also want to develop in the Under-21s and get into the senior team.

‘‘But you have to have plans for young players and they do sometimes need resting. You can go back to Jack Wilshere back in the day – he’d become too important for the club when he was 17 and Arsene Wenger had to play him every week because he was that good.

‘‘That’s a good problem to have but you also look at how things ended for Jack and don’t want to repeat that. Nowadays, though, you’ve got so many people behind the scenes looking at everything – their heart rate, their sprint numbers – and checking over them. They’re like top racehorses now and are looked after probably a bit better than in my era.