Chelsea's loss is Arsenal's gain: Best friends Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri are the Gunners and England's future

Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri's routes to the Arsenal first team have serendipitously intertwined since the very beginning of their journeys, with their friendship blossoming 12 years ago. Having already become close friends, the pair - who are both Arsenal fans and hail from north London - were part of the same intake at the Gunners' Hale End academy at Under-9s level in May 2015.

They would rise through the ranks there together playing above their age grade, even making their debuts for the U18s in the same game when they were both still just 14 years old. Nwaneri started and scored, while Lewis-Skelly came off the bench to bag a brilliant goal himself to complete a 6-1 rout of Reading.

Although Nwaneri famously became the Premier League's youngest-ever player when he made his first-team bow from the bench against Brentford aged just 15 in 2022, that did not prove to be the major breakthrough that many might have expected as he was handled very carefully internally by Arsenal.

In 2023, both players notably formed a core part of the side that reached the FA Youth Cup final, with Lewis-Skelly scoring a 121st-minute winner against Manchester City in the semis. They would be denied the trophy in the final by an outstanding West Ham team.

The long-time best friends have continued on a remarkably similar trajectory right up to the 2024-25 campaign, and it was only fitting that they should make their first-team breakthroughs almost simultaneously.

Having been involved in the senior setup throughout pre-season, both were in and around Arteta's squad at the start of the season, with Lewis-Skelly handed his Premier League debut in the draw with Man City in September, when Erling Haaland infamously asked him 'Who the f*ck are you?!' in a post-match fracas.

Their respective minutes would gradually increase before injuries in both attack and defence meant their head coach was forced to lean on them both heavily amid the hectic winter period, with their development fast-tracked once again.

Neither has looked back since, and they are now firmly part of the first-team picture. The pinnacle was perhaps both finding the back of the net in a 5-1 demolition of City in the reverse fixture at the Emirates Stadium in early February, with Lewis-Skelly making sure Haaland doesn't forget him anytime soon as he ripped off the Norwegian's 'zen' celebration following his first-ever Gunners goal, before his mate rounded off the scoring with a sublime finish from the edge of the box.

Arsenal may well point to their injury woes when they inevitably lose out in the title race to Liverpool, but Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri's joint emergence will be considered a significant silver lining to the crisis.

Things could have been very, very different, however; the best friends actually first met on trial with Arsenal's fierce London rivals Chelsea, but - as was the case with their esteemed team-mate Declan Rice - the Blues let them both slip through their fingertips.

"I first joined the academy at Under-9s level, after I had trialled at Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur," Lewis-Skelly said in 2024. "Since then I’ve been patient, keeping my head down and working. I don’t think there have been significant downs throughout my journey because I don’t see anything as downs – I just see them as learning opportunities.

"Before I joined Arsenal, I knew Ethan Nwaneri because we were at Chelsea together and we’ve kind of gone up the ranks together," he revealed.

Ironically, it has been reported that Chelsea had been desperate to re-sign Nwaneri in particular before he committed his future to Arsenal in 2023. The Blues' loss is certainly proving to be Arsenal's gain.

Given the west Londoners' transfer policy of going after the best young players around, it will sting to see two of England's most prodigious talents starring for their rivals having been on their books way back when.

What makes the teenage duo's meteoric rise in 2024-25 all the more impressive is that they have both largely been operating out of position, providing Arteta with much-needed solutions in problem areas with a raft of senior stars sidelined.

Nwaneri describes himself as an attacking midfielder, but he has deputised ably for the injured Bukayo Saka on the right wing more often than not, swiftly developing a flair for cutting inside on his preferred left foot and unleashing fierce shots on goal.

Meanwhile, Lewis-Skelly has emerged as Arsenal's first-choice left-back despite being nominally a defensive or central midfielder, delivering staunch performances against some of the league's best wingers. Arteta has suggested he will be given his chance as a No.6 or No.8 soon enough, though.

This versatility could prove invaluable; the Gunners have developed two potentially elite players who can cover multiple positions in key areas of the pitch.

Even when their peers return to the fold, Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri won't be going anywhere; the best mates are now bona fide first-team stars, and this is the realisation of a dream.

"It’s been special to share it with Ethan because we’ve been so close growing up," Lewis-Skelly said in an interview with Arsenal's official website. "We were talking about this for years, so it's like we’ve talked it into existence.

"As kids together we knew we both had what it takes, so we've been pushing each other ever since to reach what we want to reach. But there is still a long way to go on that."

Nwaneri echoed that sentiment his own interview, saying: "Myself and Myles have been best friends since we were six, and now we’re in the Arsenal team together - it’s crazy isn't it?! It's happening, so we don’t really stop and think too much about it, because we want more. We know we’re just starting."

So impressive were their performances in the lead-up to Thomas Tuchel naming his first England squad earlier in March, that there were calls for both teenagers to be included in the group - which gained traction with a number of the Three Lions' attacking players out of form and the left-back position a serious problem in Luke Shaw's continued injury absence.

Ultimately it was 18-year-old Lewis-Skelly who was included in the senior squad, with Nwaneri instead called up to a talent-packed U21 squad alongside the likes of Adam Wharton, Liam Delap, Jamie Gittens and Jobe Bellingham.

Speaking after calling up the midfielder-turned-full-back, Tuchel said: "We were always impressed with Myles. Since he started, he quickly became a regular player for Arsenal, the second-best team in the country at the moment and quarter-finalists in the Champions League.

"I can understand if it feels like we fast-forwarded a career that was already fast-paced. I can assure you that the talks of the last days and weeks have had a kind of parental and protective vibe. To even feel like we should not nominate him to protect him a little bit and not skip the Under-21s.

"Is this even maybe our responsibility to not take him? But in the end with injuries, and the quality and maturity that he’s shown in the matches, we decided to take him."

Their paths may have briefly diverged, but if Nwaneri continues on his current course he will be a serious contender for England's 2026 World Cup squad in a year's time. Meanwhile, Lewis-Skelly has an early opportunity to make the left-back berth his own for years to come.

You need only glance at the U21 squad and the calibre of the under-25 players in the senior setup to understand that the national team's future is hugely exciting, and these two are primed to play a huge part in that.

Indeed, they can be the future for club and country. That is certainly Arteta's vision having given them the opportunity to shine despite their tender years.

"I think culturally, I think because of our history and we're an English club, to have that DNA that represents us as a club and then having a lot of academy players as well. I think it’s something very, very positive, so I'm very proud of it," he Spaniard said recently.

"I think that's great, I think it attaches people to the football club, it makes them proud. I think everybody wants to see academy players and English players driving and being the face of the football club, I think it's really important.

"I think it has to happen organically; you cannot force it, especially with those two (Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly). Now it's really good news because they deserve to be where they are, they are doing great and there's a bright future ahead of them."

From childhood best friends to the world stage, Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri are worthy of a place in the NXGN 2025 top 50 wonderkids. There is so much more to come.