If the answer to what you were doing at 16 isn’t stealing the show in a pre-season friendly for Arsenal, then we’re simply going to have to give the win to Ethan Nwaneri.The teenager, who recently signed a scholarship deal at the North London club, made it look easy up against players supposedly in their prime, who, unlike the youngster, aren’t straight from the classroom.It’s some way to spend your summer, isn’t it? Called up the Arsenal pre-season, working with players you’ve likely spent watching in the last few years. To put it simply, Nwaneri is living the dream.He could even steal the show entirely in the build-up to the Premier League season. The footage of his skill against Nurnberg certainly showed that he’s more than capable of doing exactly that in the next month.

Nwaneri stars in Arsenal pre-season friendly

As the Gunners were held to a 1-1 draw in their first pre-season game following Kanji Okunuki’s goal to cancel out Bukayo Saka’s early opener, the result became somewhat of an afterthought when Nwaneri stepped onto the pitch.

Impressing many in his cameo, one particular highlight came when he rouletted past two Nurnberg defenders, leaving them utterly bamboozled and embarrassed.

The Nurnberg defenders could quite easily be the first of many to suffer the fate of humiliation by a player who is yet to even reach adulthood.

But this isn’t the first we’ve seen of the teenager either. Last season, he became the youngest-ever Premier League player, when he came on off the bench in a 3-0 win over Brentford.

Speaking on that moment, Mikel Arteta said: “It was a pure gut feeling, I met the kid and I liked what I saw.

“But I think it sends a strong message about who we are as a club. I told him yesterday he would be with us and he had to be ready. He is ready. When he went on I said ‘congratulations and enjoy it.

“I don’t know what it is. When I met him, when I looked at him, I had that feeling.”

With that in mind, it’s no wonder the Gunners were so keen to keep him around and fans would have been delighted to learn that he snubbed interest from the likes of major rivals such Chelsea and Manchester City to commit his future to the club earlier on in the summer.

Where does Ethan Nwaneri play?

As things stand, Nwaneri is a midfielder, which is likely ideal for Arteta’s current system, given the offensive nature that he expects some aspects of his midfield to play.

The arrival of Kai Havertz is likely to highlight that, with rumours suggesting that the German could be utilised in midfield for the first time, despite playing as a forward at Chelsea – and this was where we saw him play against Nurnberg.

Nwaneri will watch on as the likes of Havertz and Martin Odegaard play the role that he dreams of playing. And, given that he’s already impressing in pre-season, we may just see the teenager make a few more appearances in the Premier League next season.

He’s certainly one to keep an eye on, such is the clear potential and talent on show. At 16, he is living a dream that is only just getting started. Beginning with a record break, in an ideal world, the only way is up for Nwaneri.

Fans took to Twitter to react to the academy star’s performance in the pre-season friendly against Nurnberg, some of which you can see below: