Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has backed Mikel Arteta's decision to give Nigerian midfielder, Ethan Nwaneri, a feel of the Premier League at the age of 15 years and 181 days.
He came on for the final few minutes of the Gunners' 3-0 win over Brentford, with Nwaneri replacing goalscorer Fabio Viera.
The Spaniard, Mikel Arteta, has been criticized by many a pundits for giving the Nigerian youngster his Premier League debut. The likes of Danny Murphy, Jason Cundy and Danny Mills all slamming the Spaniard's decision.
Nwaneri tops the list for the youngest Premier League players, with Matthew Briggs, Izzy Brown and Aaron Lennon making up the top-five, while Jack Wilshere is possibly the biggest name inside the top 10.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ferdinand said: "There’s no doubting this kid’s ability, I’ve heard from coaches that are at the club and from various different people in the game at that level that there aren’t many 15-year-olds in the last 10 or so years that have got the ability that this guy’s shown on a consistent basis. We are talking the Foden's of this world. At 15, he’s at a similar level they’re talking."
Arteta explained why Nwaneri was brought on after the game and says it was all down to instinct. He said: "It was a pure gut feeling. I met the boy [and] really liked what I saw. Per Mertesacker and the academy staff are giving me really good information, Edu as well.
"I met him, he’s trained a couple of times with us. Yesterday (Saturday) he had to come because we have injuries, especially the injury of Martin (Odegaard), and then I had that feeling from yesterday that if the opportunity could come that I was going to do it and I just done it."