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Lewis-Skelly and Smith recognised at Youth Awards

Myles Lewis-Skelly was named Scholar of the Year and Tom Smith won the Academy Graduate Award for his work beyond the pitch at the recent Premier League Youth Development Awards.

Academies come together every year for the awards, with this year's event being held at Wembley Stadium, featuring presentations from FA's technical director John McDermott and England's head coach Thomas Tuchel.

"Eight people went there from our academy management team," academy manager Per Mertesacker explained. "It's also for me good to go there with people, all the departments and just celebrate our successes.

"This year we had two outstanding people from the academy there. Remember, Myles is still technically a scholar, but we wanted to make sure we highlight him for his contribution throughout his academy time with us, for his contribution this year to the whole club, how he has emerged in the first team, but also with England. 

"To highlight him was for us really necessary for his fantastic work and great progress in the academy starting at under-nine level, all the way through to now where he is to be an exceptional person that is also an outstanding footballer.

"So, this is the aim in terms of our scheme of strong Young Gunners, young people able to thrive whatever challenges they face in life on or off the pitch. He has clearly faced a lot of those recently and throughout his time and has done exceptionally with those.

"He recognised the Hale End table and thanked all the staff members and people in the academy for their contributions to him having such a successful journey and season, so that was a special highlight."

Tom Smith is another academy graduate who spent 14 years at Arsenal before moving to Colchester United in 2023.

While being a full-time goalkeeper for the U's, he earned a first class economics degree at University College London

"That is our theme of how being a strong Young Gunner is a young person who is able to thrive whatever challenges they face," Mertesacker added. "Tom, someone who could still contribute to football, has also made his path, made his journey into the real world where you're going to put yourself in the best possible position to be successful now in this course.

"It opens up many opportunities for them. These two worked on so many relationships that worked in their favour and open up so many opportunities. So, it's really great to spend time to really say thank you to all the staff for their contribution in developing those two young individuals.

"It was a great way to finish the season, to celebrate the successes, but also for me to thank all the staff in the academy and the club who have dealt with Tom and Myles and thank them for their contribution. So, I'm really pleased to be in this position where I lead the academy, but we can speak about the amazing people that we bring through the academy to make a fantastic contribution."

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