Arsenal's stance on loaning out wonderkid Ethan Nwaneri revealed as West Ham head list of clubs to express January transfer interest

According to football.london, West Ham are among a number of Premier League and foreign clubs to have enquired about Nwaneri's availability amid his lack of game time, as the Hammers seek a potential replacement for wantaway Lucas Paqueta, but neither Arsenal nor the player's camp have given them any encouragement. Whether that stance will change as January wears on remains to be seen, with Gunners head coach Mikel Arteta evidently keen to use his entire squad as his side continue to battle for trophies on four fronts, including leading the Premier League title race.

Arteta was asked about the players on the fringes of his squad in a press conference at the start of January, and his answer was telling: "Every player is very important, every player has a role," he said.

"That role can change throughout the season for different reasons, and everybody has to be ready to play." He continued: "And the thing is that you don't know if you're going to be a finisher, a starter, or sometimes you have to come in because a player gets injured in the warm-up. So that's how ready you have to be.

"And again, as I said, it's a joy because the players are really committed, really willing to participate in whatever role they have on the day. And that's what we need."

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Addressing Nwaneri's predicament specifically last month, the Basque tactician urged patience with the 18-year-old. "Ethan's attitude on that [game time] is exceptional. He wants to train and he wants to be outside and he wants to be in touch with that ball. In that sense, he's top. In the same manner that other players have to cope with this kind of situation, preparing in the best possible way, I think he's doing it. His attitude has been excellent and when he's got the chance to play, prove that I'm wrong, that he needs to play more minutes and help the team as much as possible."

When asked how he has explained the situation to Nwaneri, Arteta replied: "Probably, by looking at where he is. He's 18 years old [and has] 50 appearances for the club. I want to see how many examples there are in English football with that number at that age. That's a reality, that's not 'if, if, if', that’s a reality. So if somebody were to tell him, any of us, two years ago, that number with the squad that we have, probably we would go, it doesn't sound very realistic."

It's difficult to argue too much with Arteta's logic, there. His first-choice XI has fired Arsenal six points clear at the top of the Premier League, and they also sit at the summit of the Champions League league phase standings with just two games to play. While Nwaneri will hope to get more minutes in the second half of the campaign, more game time is far from guaranteed as he competes with club captain Martin Odegaard and summer signing Eberechi Eze for the attacking midfield role, while Bukayo Saka, Noni Madueke, Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard are ahead of him in the pecking order in the wide areas.

Rather tellingly, he was left out of the matchday squad for the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg clash with Chelsea on Wednesday night, although he started and impressed against Portsmouth in the FA Cup third round at the weekend, earning the praise of his manager.