Lee Dixon has compared Myles Lewis-Skelly to Paul Gascoigne.
It’s quite the endorsement coming from a former Arsenal and England defender who played alongside some of the finest players of his generation.
Speaking to The Athletic ahead of Saturday’s Champions League final, Dixon drew a striking parallel between the 19-year-old and one of English football’s most gifted ever players.
“I’ve watched Myles a lot — he’s very Gazza-like in the way that he uses his weight and his strength,” he said. “He almost allows players to catch up with him. He’ll go past them and then he slows down a little bit.
🤔 Who starts the Champions League final in midfield: Myles Lewis-Skelly or Martin Zubimendi?
“Gazza used to do that so that when they come in and make contact again, he bounces them off him.
“Myles will win free kicks by doing that and he will also get himself in positions higher up the pitch, so it’s a brilliant skill to have.”
Obviously, Gascoigne was technically brilliant. But he was also exceptionally difficult to knock off the ball, using his physique as a weapon in a way that few players have managed before or since.
Dixon sees that same quality in Lewis-Skelly, and it is one that has become increasingly evident since his move into central midfield.
Myles Lewis-Skelly shows aspects of Paul Gascoigne’s game
Dixon is not alone in recognising something special in Myles Lewis-Skelly.
Grant Cornock, director of sport at Aldenham School where Lewis-Skelly was educated, recalls the moment he first realised the teenager was physically gifted — walking into a gymnasium to find a 10-year-old hanging from a basketball hoop.
The same boy went on to set the Year 7 shot put record at 11 metres 75cm. The physical tools have always been there.
What has developed alongside them is the football intelligence to use that strength subtly and effectively.
As Dixon notes, Lewis-Skelly will deliberately slow down after beating a player, inviting contact and then bouncing opponents off him to win fouls or maintain possession.
It is a skill most players never develop. Gascoigne had it. Lewis-Skelly, it seems, has it too.
Dixon has already made clear he would start Lewis-Skelly in the Champions League final, ahead of Martin Zubimendi, and the Gascoigne comparison goes some way to explaining why.
On Saturday night in Budapest, PSG will find out for themselves.
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