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Arsenal have sent one of their brightest young prospects to the Bundesliga on loan.

Arsenal are continuing to safeguard their long-term plans for teenage midfielder Ethan Nwaneri.

The Gunners are understood to have built a recall clause into Nwaneri’s season-long loan switch to Borussia Dortmund.

As per transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano, writing for CaughtOffside, Arsenal can end the loan early and bring the 19-year-old back to north London in the January transfer window if they decide to activate that option.

The agreement has also been set up as a straight loan, with no option or obligation for the Bundesliga side to make the move permanent.

As a result, Dortmund are unlikely to have either the means or the chance to sign Nwaneri permanently at the end of the season, unlike other loan deals that include purchase clauses.

The presence of the January recall clause is another strong sign that Mikel Arteta and the Arsenal leadership still believe Nwaneri has a future at the Emirates Stadium.

At the same time, both the manager and the board recognise that the player was unlikely to get the consistent minutes needed for his development at his parent club during the 2026/27 season.

To prevent the midfielder’s progress from stalling on the bench, Arsenal have chosen to approve a temporary move to Germany. And after seeing previous young loanees struggle for game time, the Gunners wanted to make sure they kept complete control over the arrangement, so they could intervene if Nwaneri’s minutes in Germany fall short of expectations.

A serious knee injury suffered on debut by Dortmund’s new creative midfielder Giannis Konstantelias prompted the Bundesliga club’s late move for Nwaneri during the transfer window.

Arsenal’s hope is that Nwaneri will impress in the Bundesliga and use the spell to show he is capable of handling first-team demands in the Premier League. If everything develops as planned, the England youth international is expected to return to the Emirates next summer and push for a much bigger role in Arteta’s senior squad.