Myles Lewis-Skelly: Hale End's next superstar tasked and trusted with playing Arsenal's most difficult position

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."

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.

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.

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 (sorry not sorry) 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."

Playing left-back for Arsenal is far more complicated than playing left-back for any other team. What Arteta demands of that position is so nuanced and tactically complex, it's to Lewis-Skelly's credit that he's been entrusted with the keys to the role at his tender age.

There are obvious drawbacks with that, of course. Lewis-Skelly is hardly a Trent Alexander-Arnold-esque clone when taking up his defensive duties, though is still trying to find the right balance between going forward and not leaving acres of space in behind him for wingers to feast on. Even then, Lewis-Skelly is no slouch and can hold his own in a foot race with the standard wide-man.

If Lewis-Skelly can bring his youth-team confidence on the ball into the senior game, then he has a long career at the top level ahead of him. Like Bukayo Saka, he might turn out to be too outstanding to keep at left-back. It'd be a treat for him to be afforded the freedom to find that again.

Lewis-Skelly could be the first-of-a-kind type of player, someone designed for an unusually specific role. There haven't been many left-back slash central midfielders before.

The closest a player with that skillset has come at the top level is David Alaba, who was raised in the Bayern Munich academy as a central midfielder, but played most his time at the Allianz Arena as a left-back, while he remained an authoritative and talismanic final-third player for Austria. He later became a centre-back - where Lewis-Skelly has filled in for the England youth teams - and earned a move to Real Madrid off the back of this conversion.

Another player at the Santiago Bernabeu he could be likened to is their Swiss Army Knife, Eduardo Camavinga, who is similarly left-footed and with the two-way skillset of a defender and midfielder.

Closer to home, Arsenal fans may be hoping Lewis-Skelly will pick up the baton from where Zinchenko left it after a stellar 2022-23 season immediately after arriving from Manchester City, with the Ukrainian failing to hit the same heights since. But there is an opportunity for the youngster to carve his own path and have other top talents look up to him instead.

England's shortage of left-backs has opened the door for Lewis-Skelly not only to make his Three Lions bow soon, but to nab a spot on the plane for the 2026 World Cup. New head coach Thomas Tuchel will undoubtedly favour his positional versatility, too.

In the meantime, Lewis-Skelly can focus on nailing down that Arsenal spot, on keeping over £60m worth of talent out of the team and proving Arteta was right to promote him so swiftly. If he keeps on this upward trajectory, who knows what he and his team-mates will achieve together.

As Rice attested to, Lewis-Skelly is surrounded by plenty of fellow calm heads who will know best on how to navigate the next parts of what could be an illustrious career.