Arsenal’s “huge talent” was the original Lewis-Skelly, then he left for £0

Arsenal‘s Hale End academy is quickly becoming recognised as one of the best youth systems in the country.

It’s an academy set-up to have produced Jack Wilshere, to have brought through Emile Smith Rowe and to have nurtured Bukayo Saka.

The stable of talent they have coming through isn’t slowing down either with Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly both becoming huge parts of Mikel Arteta‘s first-team this season.

15-year-old Max Dowman is also making a huge impression for the U18s this term and has already become a household name among Arsenal supporters despite not making his senior debut yet.

Nwaneri – who made his bow at the same age – has understandably been collecting most of the hype this season. Only Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen scored more goals for a Premier League club in all competitions before turning 18 than the talented Arsenal gem.

He’s not the only one to have replicated their feats this term.

Myles Lewis-Skelly’s England debut in numbers

When Thomas Tuchel announced his first England squad a little over a week ago, there were some notable surprises.

Jordan Henderson, now of Ajax, was back in the squad. There was a place for Marcus Rashford too. Yet, Lewis-Skelly’s inclusion wasn’t that much of a shock.

After all, his performances since making his first-team debut last September have been nothing short of incredible.

A midfielder by trade, the 18-year-old has played as a left-back, inverting into central pockets of space and driving forward with the ball. He’s been here, there and everywhere, something symbolised by his only club goal to date, a gorgeous curling effort against Manchester City. We all remember the celebration.

Well, if he needed to make another statement to the doubters over his qualities, he did so on his England debut, a 2-0 win over Albania on Friday night.

Lewis-Skelly started at left-back and scored the first goal of the Tuchel era, racing in behind to get on the end of a quite delicious ball from Jude Bellingham, before nutmegging the goalkeeper. Only the aforementioned Owen and Rooney have been younger when scoring England goals.

His interview with clubmate Declan Rice after the game was lovely, with the Arsenal midfielder hailing him as a “fearless” talent.

“He is just fearless. He’s only 18. I try to look after him as best I can. I knew he was going to play like that. The confidence he has in himself, the way he’s trained all week and what I’ve seen at the club. This is only the start for him.”

The goal wasn’t the only impressive part of the teenager’s game, as the numbers below suggest.

It’s been quite the rise for the Arsenal teen this season. He’s featured on 26 occasions for the first team in 2024/25 and as Rice says, this is only the beginning.

Arsenal will just hope his career doesn’t go in the same direction as another of Hale End’s best talents.

What happened to Arsenal’s original Myles Lewis-Skelly

Through every academy there are thousands of players who never quite made the grade, eventually falling out of football.

For plenty, they stay in football but end up in the football league. Then, you have the elite, the players who do make the grade, graduating out of the academy and thriving at the top level.

For Ainsley Maitland-Niles, that story is certainly true. A midfielder by trade – like Lewis-Skelly – he made his debut for the senior side on 9th December 2014.

It was a Champions League tie with Galatasaray where Arsene Wenger introduced the teenager into the action as a substitute for Aaron Ramsey.

He was just 17 years and 102 days old, making him the second youngest player to have represented the club in the Champions League, behind Jack Wilshere. His future looked bright.

However, with a number of top midfielders in his way, the spritely academy graduate ended up playing more as a wing-back or full-back. You can see where we’re heading here with the Lewis-Skelly comparisons.

He even made his England debut at left-back, appearing in that position due to injuries elsewhere.

However, while Maitland-Niles looked like he had huge potential, he was never hugely keen on establishing himself as a full-back and wanted to play in midfield.

Indeed, upon heading on loan to West Brom in 2021, Sam Allardyce noted: “The problem with Ainsley is his position. His only position that he wants to play is centre midfield. The reason he came to West Brom – which he forced through – Edu and Arteta didn’t want him to come, was because I said he’d play in midfield.”

Well, with that in mind, his future was never going to be at Arsenal under the current manager. In the summer of 2023, his contract expired and he left on a free transfer. Lyon came calling where, coincidentally, he’s still playing as a full-back.

During his debut campaign in France, he made 29 appearances, catching the eye with two goals and four assists while this term, the 27-year-old has played 34 times, scoring one and supplying five assists.

“I’m very mature in my mind and I understand how football works. Sometimes it’s time to let go of a club that has been so dear to you and you had so many years with. So it was more of a process of trying to move on, both for my family and myself.” – Maitland-Niles a year on from his Arsenal exit.

His numbers and overall performances in Ligue 1 have actually seen calls for an England inclusion, with French football expert Matt Spiro commenting in December: “Ainsley Maitland-Niles should now be in the conversation [for England]. He’s playing the best football of his career with Lyon.”

So, while things didn’t pan out as he would have hoped at the Emirates, it’s nice to see Arsenal’s original Lewis-Skelly thriving elsewhere.