Still only 18 years of age, the midfielder-turned-full-back has rightly been fast-tracked into a team contending for the Premier League title
In the modern era, few managers will set up their team with full-backs playing in a traditionally conventional sense. For almost all of football's history, they were designed to stay back for cover, but also provide added width.
That's all changed now, however. The world is looking beyond the flying full-back, the faux winger, the ones who get chalk on their boots and nip to the byline. Football is now an inside game. There isn't any real need to be 'old man yells at cloud' about this, though. The game is as tactically advanced as its ever been, bringing about new ideas, new roles and new sorts of players.
Over in north London, Arsenal are nurturing a prototype of a full-back who inverts into midfield, having played in central areas for much of his youth. Myles Lewis-Skelly is already making waves at the Emirates Stadium despite only turning 18 over the autumn, and even though the Gunners are in the harsh spotlight of a title race and the expectation for major honours, he's in the perfect place for nurturing.
GOAL has you covered on the Gunners' latest Hale End graduate, a player you will be seeing plenty of for the next couple of decades…
Where it all began
Lewis-Skelly was born just around the corner from Arsenal's homes past and present of Highbury and the Emirates. Growing up in the north London suburb of Islington, he was quickly picked up by the Gunners' scouts and was first drafted into their academy setup at the age of nine.
By the time he had turned 14, Lewis-Skelly was already going viral with his exploits for Arsenal's Under-18s, several years above his own age group. Having made his debut off the bench against Reading, he proceeded to dance his way past several trailing bodies before planting a shot into the top corner with a thunderous finish.
Lewis-Skelly became team-mates and close friends with fellow future first-team star Ethan Nwaneri, blazing a trail of glory on their road from adolescent acclaim to the senior side. They notably formed a core part of the Arsenal side that reached the 2023 FA Youth Cup final, with Lewis-Skelly scoring a 121st-minute winner against Manchester City in the semis. Only an incredible West Ham side prevented them from lifting the trophy.
Club icon Jack Wilshere, at the time the manager of the youth team, said at the time: "He's an Under-16, so he was at school doing his GCSEs and on a hybrid training programme, so to have a moment like that in the 120th minute when you don't really train that much, you're still a boy, still got baby lungs, it was sensational. I think there's something in him that I really like."
AdvertisementGetty Images SportThe big break
Such was Lewis-Skelly's success at youth level that Arsenal supporters have been chomping at the bit to see him thrust into the first-team fold for years already. There was talk he could have played down the stretch of the Gunners' ultimately unsuccessful 2023-24 Premier League title charge, but he had to wait until this campaign to get the nod from Mikel Arteta.
Lewis-Skelly was an unused substitute for two of Arsenal's opening four games to begin this season, and notched up a unique achievement before stripping off and taking to the pitch for the first time. During the second half of September's 2-2 draw at Manchester City, he was spotted telling goalkeeper David Raya to waste time by feigning injury and was promptly booked by referee Michael Oliver, giving him the distinction of receiving a yellow card without having made a Premier League appearance. He was brought on for his debut in stoppage-time already walking that cautionary tightrope.
At the time, much was made of the team's paradoxical ascent and descent into 'dark arts', and so Lewis-Skelly's booking felt in-keeping with Arteta's philosophy in the search for the title. This was an Arsenal boy turning into an Arsenal man.
Getty Images SportHow it's going
Following on from his debut, Lewis-Skelly has been an almost ever-present in Arteta's matchday squads, only missing out on three games since due to a minor injury. With Riccardo Calafiori and Oleksandr Zinchenko also spending time on the treatment table, the 18-year-old has had an extended run of starts over the winter at left-back, cementing his place in the senior setup for good.
He has maintained his discipline since propelling himself into the XI, with that discrepancy at City still his only yellow card in Premier League action. A Champions League debut has also followed, with Arsenal well positioned to go on a deep run in Europe.
Given left-back has been a problem position in N5 for several years, with Zinchenko's form seriously declining and Calafiori unable to simply stay fit, there's scope for Lewis-Skelly to make this spot his own in both the short and long term.
Getty Images SportBiggest strengths
What separates Lewis-Skelly from his age-mates is his calmness and composure. He seldom panics, rarely appears nervous, always shows for the ball and fights for the cause. If you switched on an Arsenal game and didn't know who he was, you'd assume he was one of the older heads in the team. His eye for a pass, particularly deft through balls, shall serve him well.
As best demonstrated by that goal against Reading, his style was once based around precise and thrusting dribbles, a quick burst to leave unsuspecting defenders in the dust when travelling from one box to the other. That hasn't been as evident so far at senior level, but it's fair to assume that will be another weapon in his arsenal () once he feels totally comfortable with life in the Premier League and Champions League. If he already had that skillset properly developed, he'd be playing far higher up the pitch instead.
Declan Rice, a midfielder who cost the club a record £105m, has been impressed by Lewis-Skelly's credentials. "He can go to the top, this kid is just special, very special," he said of the teenager. "For an 18-year-old to be that good, that comfortable, that strong – it was like he was built in a lab! I said that to him the other day, it's just ridiculous how good he is, but he has a long way to go. He's so level-headed, he's got a great family around him, I know his mum looks after him really well and all the boys at the training ground do too.
"We have a really good crop of youngsters coming through and he can be what he wants to be, he just needs to stay focused and always want more and he can do that."
