Arsenal’s famous Hale End academy has produced an extraordinary volume of young talent who have gone on to break into the Gunners’ first team.
Alumni such as Ashley Cole, Jack Wilshere and now Bukayo Saka have all played their part in differing generations at the North London side, with the academy more than living up to its reputation.
Wilshere was heralded as one of the brightest talents to emerge from Hale End and became Arsenal’s youngest-ever player to represent the club in the Premier League in 2008, aged just 16 years and 256 days before Ethan Nwaneri broke that record last year.
The Englishman went on to play nearly 200 matches for the club – although it would have been more had he not suffered from a variety of injuries – scoring 14 goals and it remains a career very much unfilled once he moved past the bright start.
Indeed, the club may have another talent in the academy who could go on to have a similar impact as Wilshere by breaking into the first team at a young age, 16-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly.
Is Lewis-Skelly the next Hale End gem to break into the Arsenal side?
The young midfielder has reached an agreement with the club to sign a scholar contract that will commit him to Arsenal until 2025 and he is eligible to sign a professional contract when he turns 17 in September.
The youngster has played 14 matches across the U18 and the U21 sides in the academy, proving he is more than able to match players a few years older than him and has registered six goal contributions, impressive from a midfielder.
Like Wilshere, he operates in a central midfield role, although usually deployed slightly deeper, judging by his attacking contributions, he enjoys roaming forward wherever possible.
His average Sofascore rating over two matches in the Football League trophy was 6.55/10, but this experience would have been absolutely vital for Lewis-Skelly.
Averaging 20 minutes per game, he took 9.5 touches, held an 87% pass success rate, and won 100% of his aerial duels, showcasing his abilities across a range of metrics.
Having travelled to Dubai to train with the first team during the World Cup, manager Mikel Arteta is clearly aware of the talent Lewis-Skelly possesses and he played a crucial role in Arsenal’s win over Watford in the FA Youth Cup at the start of February.
A comeback victory from 2-0 down to prevail 4-2 showed the resilience of the young Gunners and Lewis-Skelly’s performance was praised by journalist Daniel Cutts:
“Just seen the highlights of the Arsenal youth cup win last night. My word, what a player Myles Lewis-Skelly looks. He could be absolutely anything in the future.”
The 16-year-old gem has all the talent in the world and could become Arsenal’s next Wilshere that’s for sure. He will be eyeing a chance to make his first team debut soon, although with what’s at stake this term, he might just have to wait a little bit longer.
