It’s been a whirlwind few months for Myles Lewis-Skelly, who continues to be a regular talking point in Mikel Arteta’s press conferences.
For those struggling to keep up with his recent adventures, here’s a quick recap.
He’s bolstered his first-team credentials as a left-back, seen red against Wolves (only for the card to be rescinded), scored against Manchester City, celebrated like Haaland (boiling plenty of piss in the process), picked up another red against West Ham, sparked talk of an England call-up, and then flirted with yet another dismissal during Tuesday’s thrashing of PSV—before being hooked early for his own good.
The boy has talent – his assist for academy mate Ethan Nwaneri in Holland underlined that – but there’s also a sense that he needs to rein it in a little when it comes to dealing with opponents.
Ahead of Sunday’s trip to Manchester United, Arteta was asked about the decision to replace Lewis-Skelly with Calafiori before half-time, a move clearly made to avoid being reduced to 10 men yet again.
“I think it was quite clear that we have a liability there with the yellow card and the next action,” said the boss.
“It wasn’t the moment to take any risk. We’ve learned from that experience managing the game for so long, especially with how important this competition is, so yes, a lesson to learn from him for sure.
“We will support and help him, but the line is really thin in sports and he needs to understand that.”
On the plus side, Arteta is confident the teenager will take the lesson on board.
“He’s very intelligent, he’s extremely demanding of himself,” he continued.
“His reaction is like that, he’s a perfectionist, he’s got a great environment around him. They are here to learn as well.”
As a player who thrives on taking risks—see the way he regularly twists his way out of tight spaces under pressure—there’s an argument that telling Lewis-Skelly to be more risk-averse could be counterproductive to his development. So how does Arteta help him strike the right balance?
“I think dominating the situation, that’s it. Control, I mean controlling the situation, you need to dominate what space you are defending.
“What is the level of exposure that you have, is the opponent facing you, not facing you, so what is the probability to win the ball and when you have to commit to certain duels then you have to apply defensive principles that are very clear to most of the time and have the best possibility to win the ball and don’t get exposed.
“If you don’t do that, at that level it will be a problem.”
Meanwhile, according to Sami Mokbel of the _Daily Mail_, both Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri are expected to receive a promotion of sorts during the upcoming Interlull. Having already represented England at under-19 level, call-ups to the under-21s seem inevitable. And if Thomas Tuchel – who is still deliberating over his first squad as Three Lions boss – finds himself short of options, there’s even an outside chance they could be drafted into the senior setup.
Arteta was asked whether such a rapid rise would be beneficial for the pair. His response was emphatic.
“Knowing Thomas and the coaching staff and the environment that they have created around the England camp, I think it will be an incredible experience for them.
“If that’s the case, whenever that is, that’s not my decision, that will be their decision.
“How we manage them here, it’s ours, it’s in our control. Down there we’ll leave it to coaches and people that are super experienced, much more experienced than me.”