Xhaka urges Arsenal to protect 'very, very special' Nwaneri

Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka has called on the club and his team-mates to 'protect' Ethan Nwaneri after the teenager made Premier League history.

Nwaneri became the youngest player to ever play in the Premier League on Sunday, as it was announced late in Arsenal's 3-0 win over Brentford.

Aged 15 years and 181 days, Nwaneri broke the record set by Harvey Elliott when he joined Fulham aged 16 years and 30 days.

Nwaneri was included in Mikel Arteta's squad partly through injury and was introduced towards the end with the Gunners in full control.

A young England international, Nwaneri had trained with Arsenal's first team "a few times", according to Arteta, whose decision to bring him in was a "hunch".

Nwaneri has understandably dominated the headlines since his historic appearance, but the need to protect him and keep him on his current path hasn't escaped Xhaka, who knew the player's talent from taking charge of sessions Arsenal Under-16 training camp.

"Having a 15-year-old guy, who is 15 years younger than me... he looks old when I see him but the club can be proud of a player like him," Xhaka told the journalists.

"He has a great future. If I'm honest, I'm doing my coaching license and I've coached the under-16s: you can see a big difference with him and the other guys. He's very, very special.

"Of course you have to protect him because he is very young, but if he continues like this with his hard work, he has a great, great future.

"I spoke with a guy from Brentford and told him this guy was 15 and he looked at me and said, 'F*** me, we look old!'< /p>

"So yes, of course, when you are 15 years apart, you think :. But we appreciate him, he appreciates us because he has the quality.

"To be honest, he's not often with us in training. I've seen him maybe two or three times now. He's very shy, of course, but the time will come when he will be no longer with us, but you must protect and help him.

"Football is not everything for him and for us but yes, the club will help him and the experienced players must help him."