Concern as Arsenal loanee drops to bench role

Concern as Arsenal loanee drops to bench role Arsenal loanee Ethan Nwaneri has dropped to the bench for Borussia Dortmund in recent matches, limited to substitute appearances for the last fortnight. Photo by Sona Maleterova/Getty Images Arsenal loan midfielder Ethan Nwaneri initially played a lot of minutes with Borussia Dortmund in the early weeks of his temporary spell with the club, but that seems to have changed in the last fortnight. Since his last start for Dortmund on October 17th, the Arsenal 19-year-old has found himself with a bench role. Nwaneri came on in injury time for the Champions League match against Sabah FK , then played 22 minutes of the second half in the 1-0 win over Frankfurt . He made another 19-minute cameo for the German Cup win over Werder Bremen , then was an unused substitute against Bayern Munich . Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images It’s still very early days for Nwaneri’s loan spell, and there have been some positive signs in these first couple of months. With much of the season still to play, the loanee has already racked up more minutes for Dortmund than his entire loan to Olympique Marseille, and he only needs to play one more time to match his Marseille appearance count. But there will obviously be some concern at the current trajectory of his Dortmund minutes. The hope was that his early appearances of around 60 minutes each would eventually turn into full 90-minute matches. Instead, he’s fighting just to make it onto the pitch. Photo by Sona Maleterova/Getty Images Nwaneri is also still waiting for his first goal, after having a bicycle-kick effort ruled out for a foul. Dortmund return to the Champions League in midweek, hosting Real Betis on Wednesday. They’ll then play SV Elversberg in the Bundesliga on Saturday, before the November international break gets underway. Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images