Why Lewis-Skelly’s ‘coming of age’ performance should be a shock to nobody

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Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Real Madrid on Tuesday night was undoubtedly one of the greatest nights of football at the Emirates in recent memory, possibly the greatest across their 19 years there.

The game will rightly be remembered for Declan Rice’s brace of free kicks, but it was the youngest player on the pitch, Myles Lewis-Skelly, who again impressed and set up Arsenal’s third goal in what is becoming a remarkable breakout season for the 18-year-old.

On the latest episode of Handbrake Off, Ian Stone, James McNicholas, Art de Roche and Amy Lawrence discussed whether Lewis-Skelly’s performance against Real Madrid showed he has the potential to become a generational talent. Listen to the full episode below.

A partial transcript of his interview has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on the Handbrake Off feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. 

Ian: Before we talk about the free kicks, just a moment on Myles Lewis-Skelly. James, we are witnessing the first season of what may be a generational talent. He’s in the England team, scored a goal on his debut, and scored what turned out to be the winning goal against Manchester City. And, as Amy said, he was probably one of the best players on the pitch last night.

He’s 18 years old, stepping into midfield and looking as comfortable as Jude Bellingham, Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice, all experienced international players. Nothing fazes him at all, does it?

James: His superpower is his personality. There are kids in academies who have a very high level of technical ability or natural physical gifts, but what Myles has that separates him from others is his attitude and this special charisma that he’s able to exert on a football pitch.

He’s only played around 30 games of senior football in his young life, he’s only 18 years old and he never went out on loan or been exposed to men’s football before this season. But he was playing against Real Madrid, against idols, heroes and people he grew up hoping to emulate, and he was bossing it. It’s really extraordinary.

Like Bellingham at Real Madrid, and like Wayne Rooney and Cesc Fabregas did, he has a capacity to influence games at an unnaturally early age. And as gifted and talented as he is, that stems from a core personality and a core belief in himself. It’s what really could make him special. It’s obviously tempting to project forward and imagine what he might be in the future, and we know from years of watching Arsenal that the trajectories of any player’s career are difficult to predict. But what he’s doing right now is truly extraordinary.

This was a performance you could conceivably file alongside Jack Wilshere against Barcelona and Cesc Fabregas in the Bernabeu as a coming-of-age and announcing-himself moment. Not just to the Premier League — he’s an England international and goalscorer, in this country we all know him well — but to Europe and the global game. I’m sure a lot of people will have sat up and taken notice last night.

Ian: Art, anything to add about Myles? It’s not that I don’t want to move on, because we do have a couple of free kicks that I’d really like to talk about (laughs). But Myles is Arsenal DNA, and he’s part of the fabric of the club. He’s been there for years, and we’re all so proud of him. He just takes it all in his stride, doesn’t he?

Art: Aside from the fact I’d like him to keep the No 49 shirt for his whole time at the club… I want to mention one moment in the game. Jurrien Timber went off to receive some treatment, and Arsenal had to keep the ball while they were waiting for him to come back on. And Myles was the one who was in the centre circle, just controlling everything. In real time, it seemed amazing.

He’s 18 years old, Real Madrid were a man up at the time and could have easily picked us off when we had the ball. But he just knew what pass to make, where to move and where to look. That moment just felt like, ‘OK, wherever he plays, it’ll be fine. If he’s in midfield in the future, he’ll be fine.’ And I just thought to myself, ‘Wow, what is this?’

James: There was another moment in the game after Arsenal defended a corner, but the ball stayed in play for about five minutes afterwards, or it felt like it anyway, and they weren’t in their customary formation. William Saliba was basically playing as a left-back and Lewis-Skelly, for this whole passage of open play, was effectively the right-sided centre half in the back four.

And you could see him cajoling the guys around him, setting the offside trap and leading the line. As I keep saying, at 18 years old, that is not normal.

Amy: Just on the goal as well. Like most of us, we’ve seen hundreds of versions of people’s footage who were in the ground of all the goals. When Myles got the ball just before the third goal, you could hear people shouting, “Shoot!”… but he had the wherewithal and the intelligence of decision-making to just roll it across for Mikel Merino to bury it in. Which, again, just shows great maturity of thinking.

You can listen to full episodes of Handbrake Off for free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

(Top photo: Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)

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