The roar inside Emirates Stadium when Myles Lewis-Skelly rose highest in the last minute of extra time to put Arsenal Under-18s 2-1 up against Manchester City and into the FA Youth Cup final is what most will remember.
The collective gasp that came when he trapped a fizzed ball under pressure in midfield and played it in behind minutes earlier is what should stick, however.
By that point, players from both teams had been grounded by cramp. In Lewis-Skelly’s case, he was not just able to speed up the game when Arsenal needed with his technical ability, but ready to decide it with a decisive off-ball run and header.
🤩 The magical match-winning moment under the lights #AFCU18 | #FAYouthCup pic.twitter.com/9aSIxXKUCp
— Arsenal Academy (@ArsenalAcademy) April 4, 2023
“You say under my guidance, but Myles has been at the club since he was nine and I’ve been here a year,” under-18s head coach Jack Wilshere said when the midfielder was mentioned post-match.
“Coaches from Hale End and my assistant (Adam Birchall), who has coached him year-in and year-out, deserve massive credit. Him (Lewis-Skelly) and Ethan Nwaneri, what they do at 16… let’s remember Ethan and Myles are a bit younger and how they’re able to dominate, manage moments in a game and drive a team is impressive.”
Lewis-Skelly has been on the radar at Arsenal for some time. He made his under-18s debut at 14 in the same game as Nwaneri and scored, just like his team-mate did.
👏 Myles Lewis-Skelly made his debut for #AFCU18 last night…
What a way to open your account at just 14 years of age! 😲 pic.twitter.com/Ox2hgMmjZf
— Arsenal Academy (@ArsenalAcademy) May 5, 2021
The club have an agreement in place for him to sign scholarship terms before becoming eligible for a professional contract when he turns 17 on September 26, as revealed by The Athletic in February.
All 15 players who got onto the pitch in the 120 minutes against Manchester City did their part. Michal Rosiak and Lino Sousa played pivotal roles as full-backs, captain Bradley Ibrahim was instrumental at the base of midfield and Amario Cozier-Duberry threatened from the right wing — but captivation could be sensed whenever Lewis-Skelly was on the ball.
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Wilshere reiterated his statement, that the 16-year-old can “do things you can’t coach”, from the quarter-final win over Cambridge United, and that was demonstrated throughout the game. The first moment that increased the decibels inside the Emirates came in the opening minutes when the player’s quick burst of acceleration on the edge of the box left a marker on the ground. More came when Lewis-Skelly’s quick feet in tight spaces got him out of tricky situations and put Arsenal into promising ones within seconds.
The England Under-17 international featured on the right of a midfield three for the entirety of the victory. It is one of many interesting points in his continuing development, as sometimes he operates more as a No 6 for the under-18s. He has also filled in at left-back for the under-21s this season.
“I don’t think he’ll be a left-back; he’ll be a midfielder. But if we give him a little bit of everything (it will help),” Wilshere added. “It’s important for him. You look at our first team and the way football’s going with players like Oleksandr Zinchenko, the full-back has to be able to play inside.”
“As they get older, we need to nail a certain position for them and make it specific in terms of what’s expected from the first team and what that role is, but we have to give them challenges,” under-21s head coach Mehmet Ali told The Athletic after using Lewis-Skelly at left-back in January.
“A good footballer can play anywhere on the pitch. You look at some of our first-team players like Bukayo Saka; they don’t always break through playing as a right winger, it might be as a left-back or a centre-forward playing off the sides. They have to be tactically flexible, technically excellent and adaptable to play for Mikel (Arteta).”
The teenager has been involved with Arteta’s first team. He was part of the squads for the mid-season friendlies in Dubai, made a cameo against Lyon and continued to train with the first team at the turn of the year.
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Patience will be paramount, however. Given the speed Arsenal’s first team has been injected with youth — Saka (21), Gabriel Martinelli (21), Emile Smith Rowe (22), Folarin Balogun (21), William Saliba (22) — it can be easy to forget just how young these players are. For all the talk around first-team pathways, these are incredibly early days for Lewis-Skelly and his team-mates.
Wilshere, who made his Arsenal debut aged 16 years and 256 days, is well aware of that and insists his match-winner is too.
“We give him the tools he needs to develop, but you see certain moments that are not coachable. Certain players can’t do that, only certain players can but there’s much more that comes with it like how he lives,” the 31-year-old said.
“He’s a top kid but he has to manage that going forward when he gets a bit more attention. He comes from a great family which is massive, and I know that they’ll steer his journey and be present throughout that, a bit like me with my dad and family. That’s so important.”
That excitement was not just felt by Wilshere and those in the stands, but in the club-level seats too.
As they walked off the pitch after their celebrations, the players were applauded by academy manager Per Mertesacker, who sat just above the tunnel.
Lewis-Skelly and his team-mates reciprocated that applause before being met in the changing rooms by Mertesacker and Aaron Ramsdale — another symbol of the growing bond between all factions of the club as they prepare to host the FA Youth Cup final against either West Ham or Southampton at Emirates Stadium at the end of the month.
(Top photo: David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
