Arsenal star Myles Lewis-Skelly is having a dream season.
This time last year, the Englishman was playing for the Arsenal Academy in Premier League 2. Everyone knew he was a big talent then, but he was viewed as one for the future.
However, after a good pre-season with the first-team in the United States, Mikel Arteta gave him an opportunity, and the youngster hasn’t looked back since.
Declan Rice, who was once a youngster in the Premier League like Lewis-Skelly, has now revealed the help the teenager receives behind the scenes at the club.
Declan Rice names the four Arsenal players who are always helping Myles Lewis-Skelly
It’s never easy for an academy player to come into the first team, but Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri have adapted brilliantly.
Arteta has put his faith in the two teenagers, and they have repaid it big time. They are one of the biggest reasons why Arsenal are still second despite all the injuries.
Lewis-Skelly, in particular, deserves immense praise because playing at left-back in Arteta’s system is one of the most difficult jobs on the pitch.
Yet, the youngster has made it look easy, and Rice has now revealed that he has been receiving some big help from the senior pros behind the scenes.
Rice said on the Men in Blazers: “The Premier League can throw unexpected stuff at you. I remember playing, I think it was like my third or fourth game for West Ham, we were away at Newcastle, I gave the ball away on the halfway line, and they went and scored. I got subbed at half-time, and I remember thinking: ‘This is it. I’m not ready to play in the Premier League.'”
Rice revealed that he then asked to go out on loan, but West Ham rejected his request and gave him another opportunity. He won the Man of the Match award in that game and never lost his place from that point.
“Things can go up and down in the Premier League,” he said. “This is the thing with Myles, at the moment, it’s going so, so well. But, at some point, there will be a point where something happens when there will be a dip. It’s then how you react and you come back even stronger.
“I learnt from people like Mark Noble, Aaron Cresswell, James Collins, they taught me everything I know about how to be a good leader and a good person.
“Myles has obviously got that now with myself, Martin [Odegaard], Big Gabi [Gabriel Magalhaes] and Bukayo [Saka] – really, really good lads who want to push these young players.
“So, yeah, there are a lot of similarities from when I played and when he is playing now.”
The perfect player to teach Lewis-Skelly at Arsenal
It’s great to see that Lewis-Skelly is receiving all the help he needs at Arsenal.
The youngster has come under some unnecessary criticism from certain sections of social media and mainstream press, and that can’t be easy to deal with on his own.
Bukayo Saka went through a horrible phase after Euro 2020, and the Arsenal number seven is the perfect role model for young Lewis-Skelly.
Having made the jump from Hale End to the Emirates, playing and scoring for England and being a superstar at club level, it is a journey Saka is already familiar with.
His advice will be invaluable for Lewis-Skelly and also Nwaneri.
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