Myles Lewis-Skelly, Arsenal’s ‘very rare’ talent, comes of age to leave Mikel Arteta with a big decision
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Leaving the pitch after being substituted, Myles Lewis-Skelly could not help turning to the Arsenal fans and whipping them up as a beaming smile spread across his face. After the performance he had just put in, you could hardly blame the 18-year-old. This was a night he will never forget.
![[Myles Lewis-Skelly and Lucas Bergvall during Arsenal against Tottenham]](https://static.standard.co.uk/2025/01/16/10/41/SEI236099579.jpg?trim=109,0,109,0&quality=75&auto=webp&width=960)
Trusted to start in a huge north London derby against Tottenham, Lewis-Skelly rose to the occasion and showed he is arguably Arsenal’s best left-back right now. Riccardo Calafiori may have something to say about that when he is back fit, but at the very least the Italian has a fight on his hands.
Mikel Arteta described Lewis-Skelly’s performance on Wednesday as “very rare” given he only turned 18 in September. Arteta is not wrong, as the last time an 18-year-old started a north London derby in the Premier League for Arsenal was Cesc Fabregas all the way back in 2005.
“He was phenomenal today,” said Arteta. “He is a real personality. He has so much trust in himself. “He has that attitude about him. He had to play against [Brennan] Johnson and [Dejan] Kulusevski here, and manage the occasion, it is not easy. He was top.”.
Declan Rice remarked recently how it feels like Lewis-Skelly was “built in a lab” - and it is not hard to see why. Few teenagers are built like him and even fewer would have the ability to play the complex role of an inverted full-back. What is even more remarkable is that Lewis-Skelly came through the Arsenal academy as a midfielder.
