Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri are facing somewhat uncertain futures with fresh comments from an Arsenal chief hinting that neither is guaranteed to stay
Richard Garlick has commented on the futures of Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly at Arsenal
Richard Garlick has commented on the futures of Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly at Arsenal(Image: Sky Sports)
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Arsenal CEO Richard Garlick has revealed the club are open to selling academy products Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly under certain circumstances.
The Gunners duo have both been linked to exits this summer with football.london revealing that Lewis-Skelly was offered to Chelsea and Manchester United. Nwaneri meanwhile, has loan interest RB Leipzig with Galatasaray also keen following their failure to sign Gabriel Martinelli.
Now, an update on their respective futures has arrived with Garlick dismissing that the club are pushing for them to leave but that exits would be considered if the right opportunity arose.
He told the BBC's Dan Roan: “We’re not actively looking at selling those homegrown players, but if the right opportunity came up, and it was right for them and right for the club, then we’d obviously consider that."
Garlick had earlier stated: "We obviously believe in our academy and have been very successful with Myles and Ethan being two that have come through. Everybody loves to see those homegrown players put on the shirt and contribute to the success off the team.
"Selling those homegrown players is not something we aim to do, trading players is something that comes up all the time. There's been a lot of speculation around players, I can't stop other clubs being interested in our players."
When asked specifically if he would like them to stay, the Gunners chief said: "Well I think Myles had a fantastic end to last season and started this season really well and we're very happy with him. Ethan has had a great pre-season and I think it is just a case of looking at what opportunities there are for both us and them."
Nwaneri appears to be the more likely departure given the competition for places in midfield while Lewis-Skelly has proven he can be relied upon the centre of the park.
The played over 60 minutes in every pre-season game following his run of starts towards the end of last season, which included the Champions League final.
He was deployed ahead of Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi for Sunday's Community Shield win over Manchester City. The 19-year-old actually assisted Riccardo Calafiori's goal with a clever pass in behind.
As for Nwaneri, he also had good minutes in recent friendlies but a hint over where his future may lie was dropped by Mikel Arteta as he missed out on a place in the squad last weekend.
Martinelli was also absent with uncertainty remaining over his future despite rejecting a move to the Turkish champions earlier this month. When asked about the duo, Arteta reiterated his desire to see a Premier League rule change implemented.
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He said: "I've been trying to persuade the Premier League and the clubs to be able to extend the number of players that we can have, especially the outfield players in the squads, because we're playing more and more games and the load is unreal.
"And not giving the chance to those players to be able to be here to participate, because maybe the man's qualities are one of those players and don't have them available, it's just a shame. So it's the most difficult part of the job, but there's nothing to do with that.
"It's just a fact that we can bring 18 outfield players and we believe that for today's game, these were the options that we needed, especially with the physical condition of certain players."