Myles Lewis-Skelly is not simply part of Arsenal’s future. He is very much part of the champions’ vibrant present. Headlines linking the teenager with a move away thankfully disappeared for good in Cardiff on Sunday.
The Community Shield often throws up more questions than answers, but one argument certainly settled, and no doubt dispelled in the 3-0 humbling of Manchester City, was the importance of Lewis-Skelly to Arsenal for footballing and financial reasons.
Arsenal should sell even world champions like Martin Zubimendi and Mikel Merino before even considering moving on Lewis-Skelly. He’s that important.
One down, 60-odd to go
He’s more than a number for Arsenal, even an obscure number in 49 vacated by an Estonian goalkeeper, Karl Hein, now Werder Bremen’s No.1. He’s more than a talented midfield option to rotate in when the new first choice of Declan Rice and Bruno Guimaraes has done its ferocious work and needs a break or the game is won.
Given the innate impatience of youth, the teenager will want to play every game. But there are so many. Arsenal are one game into what could prove a 68-game marathon. Mikel Arteta will sensibly rest and rotate, ensuring freshness for each game, a lesson surely learned from Rice’s draining workload last season.
“MLS” brings energy and intensity of press. He brings composure and invention in possession. For Arsenal’s first against City, Lewis-Skelly calmly let the ball run across him and then guided Riccardo Calafiori through on goal. Few players have the intelligence to see that pass and the technique to deliver it. He spots opportunity early. That anticipation and nimbleness, changing direction quickly, reflects early years as a tennis prospect.
He’s versatile, best in central midfield but launching himself onto the scene with Arsenal and England at left-back. He played centre-back for his school team but lacks the height. There are elements to his game that still needing work, including developing his shooting, but he’s still only 19. Like any young professional, MLS will be learning the art of total devotion to his craft. He certainly has great role models to learn from at London Colney.
MLS is an exciting symbol of a trait that fans always love – one of their own, an admired academy graduate, a link between the dressing room and the stands. He’s a Hale End boy, joining at eight, and imbued in the ways of the club like Bukayo Saka and the poster-boy for the next generation, Max Dowman. In the age of sky-high transfer fees and clubs needing to balance their books (which Arsenal do well), it makes even more sense to develop talent. The flaw in the system is that it then encourages clubs to sell the homegrown as it goes down in the books as pure profit.
How much is MLS worth? Headlines have him at £45m, which seems laughably low, almost disrespectful. He’s 19, got four years left on his contract and is an England international (with the added Three Lions premium to any fee).
How much is MLS worth? Headlines have him at £45m, which seems laughably low, almost disrespectful. He’s 19, got four years left on his contract and is an England international (with the added Three Lions premium to any fee).
Little fazes him: he scored against City in 2025 and famously mimicked Erling Haaland’s meditation celebration. The act felt more cheeky than insolent or arrogant and was a slight response to Haaland’s previous “who are you?” during an Etihad flare-up. MLS is not short on character.
He provided an assist against Real Madrid and scored on his England debut. Arteta rated the teenager highly enough to start him ahead of Zubimendi in last May’s Champions League final against Paris St-Germain. Best in a double pivot, Lewis-Skelly enjoyed helping Guimaraes dominate Elliot Anderson and the struggling Mateo Kovacic in Cardiff.
Talk of him leaving, however brief and caused by whoever, was dispiriting. Arsenal are a global institution, with players and supporters drawn from all over, and that is a celebration of their appeal and welcoming nature. But reminders of their roots, their Englishness, need protecting and promoting. Local heroes are part of Arsenal’s history going back to Tony Adams and Charlie George.
Midway through the second half at the Principality Stadium, Arsenal fans began singing about the late, great David Rocastle, whose name, image and mission statement adorn parts of Hale End. “Remember who you are, what you are, and who you represent.” MLS represents Arsenal’s present and future.