Arsenal chose well when they sent Ethan Nwaneri on loan to Marseille | Marseille

When William Saliba joined Marseille on loan in 2021, it was unclear whether he had a future at Arsenal. Having moved to England after a prodigious rise at Saint-Étienne, the young defender was sent back to France for loan spells at Saint-Étienne and Nice but he still could not force his way into Mikel Arteta’s plans.

At the start of his loan spell at Marseille, Arteta said there was “space for him at Arsenal” but that it would “depend on the future of other players”. When he returned to London in the summer of 2022, it became quickly evident that other players would have to move aside for him; his presence in the Premier League team of the year for the last three seasons is proof of that.

Saliba says his year at Marseille was “a big turning point” on his route to the Arsenal and France teams, where he is now undroppable. “It is clear that Marseille really helped me reach The Blues,” said the defender, whose debut for Didier Deschamps’ side came towards the end of that fruitful loan spell.

No wonder he vouched for the club when Ethan Nwaneri sought his advice. “Saliba told me that Marseille are one of the best clubs in the world,” said the Englishman when he touched down in Marignane last week. As is customary for new signings, Nwaneri was greeted with fanfare and pomp by the Marseille fans, a minor dose of what awaited him at the Vélodrome on Saturday night.

The 18-year-old was thrown in at the deep end the day after his move became official. With one eye on Marseille’s important match at Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday, Roberto De Zerbi rotated his team for the visit of league leaders Lens, starting Nwaneri in Mason Greenwood’s place.

Pierre Sage’s men went into the game on a 10-game winning streak – a run that Nwaneri helped to end by scoring the second goal in Marseille’e 3-1 win. The forward, who says he lives purely “on instinct”, picked the ball up in his own half in the 13th minute, drove to the edge of the box, eliminated the Lens centre-back Malang Sarr with a deft shift on to his left foot and then chose placement over power to beat Robin Risser with a precise finish into the bottom corner. It is a finish that has become his signature, even at this very early stage of his career.

Nwaneri’s evening ended just before the hour mark. As well as scoring a crucial goal, he helped his team get the ball up the pitch by constantly driving at the Lens defence; no Marseille player completed more dribbles or made more metres than the Englishman.

He was used by De Zerbi in the same way he has been used at Arsenal, so there was an element of plug-and-play. When choosing Marseille as a destination for his precious talent, Arteta would have considered tactics but also the broader environment. “You have to be thrown there, into the sharks in an incredible football culture and atmosphere and club, and it’s going to make him so good,” said the Arsenal manager last week.

The fireworks display inside the ground before kick-off – and the Beatles tifo unveiled before their Champions League match against Liverpool last week – would have shown the youngster the creativity and passion of the fans. In a way, the cacophony of noise around the club can almost provide a smokescreen that allows young players to develop more serenely. When Saliba was at the club, the fiery Jorge Sampaoli was at the helm and, like De Zerbi, he was adept at creating noise. De Zerbi’s comments about not possessing a French passport sucked up media attention over the weekend, which was no bad thing for the player.

Marseille is often posited as a sink-or-swim environment. Didier Drogba did the former; in recent times, players such as Elye Wahi and Lilian Brassier did the latter. But Marseille does not define a player, as Eric Cantona, who failed at the Vélodrome but then went on to set the Premier League alight, or more recently, Iliman Ndiaye and Ismaila Sarr, have proven.

Under De Zerbi, there have been successes and failures. CJ Egan-Riley has dropped off the radar; Ismael Koné was cast aside but is now thriving in Serie A; and Angel Gomes’ World Cup dreams are in tatters, with the Englishman peripheral and reportedly heading towards an exit. But then there is the example of Luis Henrique, whose one good season in Europe came under the Italian, or Amine Gouiri, reborn after a middling spell at Rennes. There is a pattern: De Zerbi may struggle to make his defenders shine, but that is not a problem for his attackers. So, if the question is: “Is Marseille the right place to send Arsenal’s golden boy?” The answer may just be: “Yes.”

Talking points

The end of Lens’ 10-game winning run meant that PSG’s slender victory over Auxerre on Friday night was enough for Luis Enrique’s side to take top spot. But he was unhappy about his players’ lack of confidence in front of goal – which was also present during their surprise defeat to Sporting CP last week – and their “imprecision” in build-up play. It took a late Bradley Barcola goal to get the job done against Auxerre, but not all is well before their encounter with Newcastle on Wednesday.

Paul Pogba was back on the pitch at the Stade Louis II at the weekend – although his teammates were 700 miles away, seeing out a goalless draw against his formative club Le Havre. When Pogba joined Monaco in the summer, he announced an unrealistic ambition of being fit to face Le Havre on the opening day of the season. As the return fixture came around, he had played just 30 minutes of football. But on Friday, Sébastien Pocognoli said that Pogba “will certainly touch the ball soon”. Very soon, it transpired.

Perhaps this wasn’t what Pocognoli meant, but just 24 hours later, he was giving the ceremonial kick-off at a charity match in the Principality, passing the ball to Eden Hazard, another mercurial talent whose body betrayed him towards the end of his career. No return date has been provided for Pogba, who is on an injury list that added two new names this weekend. Wout Faes was forced off with an ankle injury in the first half, and Eric Dier, whose minutes are being managed following a lengthy injury lay-off, came on to replace him. But the Englishman could not see out the match, going down with a thigh injury in the second half. And all the while, pressure grows on Pocognoli and Monaco, who are winless in Ligue 1 since 29 November.