Myles Lewis-Skelly has just delivered a breakthrough season for the ages at Arsenal.
Mikel Arteta trusted Myles Lewis-Skelly to come in the midst of Arsenal’s injury crisis early last season, and the 18-year-old didn’t disappoint.
Alongside Riccardo Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly emerged as Arsenal’s first-choice left-back, a position he’s now hoping to win for England too.
Of course, that explains why Real Madrid are interested in Lewis-Skelly, a player who Arsenal will be determined to keep hold of.
Fortunately, Lewis-Skelly will get a huge pay rise at Arsenal imminently, a deal that will secure his future long-term.
But with a view to what’s on the horizon for the Hale End graduate, it’s time for Arteta to make an unpopular decision.
Arsenal should abandon any Myles Lewis-Skelly midfield plans
At the start of the season, Lewis-Skelly wanted to play in midfield for Arsenal, something he admitted last month.
The youngster played the majority of his youth career either as a number six or eight in midfield, the position he must have envisioned playing under Arteta.
Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
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However, despite Lewis-Skelly’s ambition to play in the middle, Arteta should actually double down on the 18-year-old playing as a left-back long-term.
In the summer, Arsenal expect to sign Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad who will sit behind Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard in midfield.
Zubimendi was outstanding for Spain in their recent Nations League tie with Portugal, and it’s clear that he will always be in Arteta’s strongest eleven.
And instead of trying to compete with Zubimendi, Rice or Odegaard, Lewis-Skelly should make the left-back role his own.
Lewis-Skelly was phenomenal against Real Madrid as a full-back in the Champions League last season, and in truth, Arteta should be taking the decision out of his hands.
Myles Lewis-Skelly can star for England at the World Cup as a left-back
Of course, if Arteta does carry on using Lewis-Skelly on the left instead of midfield, it could seriously help his prospects with England under Thomas Tuchel, too.
Right now, Lewis-Skelly looks like England’s strongest left-back heading towards next summer’s World Cup.
And if the youngster enjoys another productive season as a full-back, where he often inverts into midfield anyway, then it should be a no-brainer for Tuchel to pick him.
That’s not to say that Lewis-Skelly can’t make the switch to a number eight role in four or five years’ time, or perhaps even sooner.
But for now, Arteta should make the unpopular call to keep Lewis-Skelly as left-back, even if so many Arsenal fans are calling for him to dominate in midfield.
Lewis-Skelly might still get chances in the middle, but he should focus his journey on becoming Europe’s best left-back, a crown currently held by Paris Saint-Germain’s Nuno Mendes.