Myles Lewis Skelly looks set to start again this weekend against Everton following an impressive performance midweek against Monaco. Arsenal have been associated with producing elite talent through Hale End, with names such as Nketiah, Smith Rowe, and Saka being the most recent successes. This follows on from the work of Arsene Wenger who prided himself on youth development accelerating the growth of players such as Wilshere and Walcott. Mikel Arteta has at times been criticised for failing to adopt this mentality, yet this season he has proved many of these critics wrong through the promotion of prospects such as Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis Skelly.
“We don’t sign superstars, we make them”
– Arsene Wenger
Lewis-Skelly joined the Arsenal academy at the age of 9, progressing through the academy ranks alongside good friend and team mate, Ethan Nwaneri. Surprisingly, Myles never came from a footballing background, with his mother revealing that his love of the game was born from a friend buying him a soft football to entertain the young boy who was full of energy very early on. This led to him eventually playing in Sunday league and later signing for Arsenal. However, the seriousness of his ability and potential in the sport was only realised by his mother at around 11 year old. Since then Myles has thrived, producing explosive performances in the youth teams, most memorably scoring the winning goal in the final minute of the FA Youth Cup semi-final against Manchester City.
Predominantly a central midfielder, Lewis-Skelly has the ability to play both attacking and defensive roles and has recently been used by Mikel Arteta at left-back. He has adopted almost the Zinchenko role of inverting into midfield dropping into deeper areas as a high touch player, key in build up whilst also having the athleticism and physicality to carry out his defensive duties as a left back; something that perhaps Zinchenko has lacked over the last couple of years. Despite his age, Myles’ fearlessness and refusal to be intimidated by opponents will certainly aid his development.
“We believed he could help the team to win the game and he certainly did that. We trust him”
– Mikel Arteta on Lewis- Skelly
On October 5 2023, Arsenal announced that Lewis-Skelly had signed his first professional contract with the club. He made his senior debut for the club in a 2-2 draw at the Etihad against fierce rivals Manchester City. Only a couple of months later he earned his first Champions League start and clean sheet against Monaco; completing 45/47 of his passes, the best passing accuracy by an Arsenal teenager in the Champions League since Johan Djourou in 2006. He now looks set to land his first Premier League start this afternoon against Everton, another opportunity to cement his name within this promising Arsenal squad.
“This is his level”
– Bukayo Saka on Myles