Arsenal midfielder Ethan Nwaneri has completed a loan deal to Marseille until the end of the season.
The 18-year-old broke into the Arsenal first-team squad last season, benefitting from regular minutes due to Bukayo Saka's four-month injury - but has found game time much harder this season.
Nwaneri has played just 12 times for Arsenal this season and was left out of the Gunners' last four matchday squads due to competition for places in his position.
He will link up with former Premier League manager Roberto De Zerbi in Marseille and Mikel Arteta revealed the experience to work under that manager - and the boost William Saliba got from going to Marseille on loan four-and-a-half years ago - was a big factor for letting Nwaneri leave.
"We constantly have to be monitoring the young talented players we have. They need minutes and Ethan wasn't getting enough minutes," said Arteta.
"The last thing we want is to cut his development. Because he's such a talent, he loves and breathes football, that's his life. After discussing with him, his father, the agent and the club, we decided it was best for him to leave on loan. Then we have to pick the right place.
"With all the options and understanding the experience we had with Willy [Saliba] and Roberto being there as a great developer of young talent, it's a really courageous manager in the way he plays with young talent as well. It fits the way of playing with the qualities we want to see for Ethan.
"One day, you have to pack your bags, say this is the ticket and you go to Marseille. And you go: woah, woah woah.
"It's fear and insecurity, getting out of a place that has been really comfortable for him around his family.
"At the end you have to be thrown to the sharks in an incredible atmosphere and club. It's going to make so much good."
Analysis: Nwaneri's time will come at Arsenal
Sky Sports' Sam Blitz:
Nwaneri has ultimately become the victim of Arsenal's desire for immediate success.
The arrivals of Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze have limited his game time in the two positions the Arsenal teenager played in last season - right wing and attacking midfield.
With those two signings made - and Max Dowman making strong strides at a younger age - there was a fear that Nwaneri would be cast out in a similar way that Emile Smith Rowe was. But Nwaneri has time on his side.
By the time Eze and Martin Odegaard reach 30, Nwaneri will be just 21-years-old. He has a couple of years yet to learn before Arsenal start depending on him as a key player.
It is also worth remembering that Nwaneri is ahead of schedule. He has already racked up 50 appearances for Arsenal and he's not even 19 yet. His 37 appearances for Arsenal last season was the fourth-highest out of any teenager in Europe's top-five leagues.
His 29 appearances before his 18th birthday was the most by any Arsenal player aged 17 or under in nearly two decades.
Not many players knew where William Saliba was going at Arsenal before he turned up at Marseille. A year after he moved to the Ligue 1 club on loan, he was Arteta's first-choice centre-back and never looked back. Nwaneri has plenty of reasons to feel positive about this move away from Arsenal.
