What’s going on with Myles Lewis-Skelly? Arsenal insiders reveal why he starts for England but not his club, the new role Gabriel Heinze is teaching him and what happens next

This time, a year ago, Myles Lewis-Skelly had not even made his Arsenal debut. It is a measure of his rapid ascent that his exclusion from the initial training so far this season has become a concern.

Throwing in the first team last winter in the middle of a defensive injury crisis of Arsenal stressed by several players, Lewis-Skelly took the opportunity and never looked back. He became the left back of Mikel Arteta, starting 15 Premier League games from December, and even obtained a name for the Senior Team of England under Thomas Tuchel, marking 20 minutes after his debut against Albania in Wembley.

At this stage, the only way for Lewis-Skelly seemed to be standing-after all, the records fell around him when he won the Real Madrid Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo superstars in a total of 5-1 beat of Real Madrid in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

However, a year later, Lewis -Skelly finds himself on the bench at Arsenal – a dramatic change, even if Tuchel continues to show him the faith in him at the international level. After only 44 minutes through two substitute appearances for his club and not get from the bench at all during the 1-0 defeat in Anfield, the 18-year-old started during the recent victory of the 2-0 World Cup in England against Andorra.

He is still likely to be the starting left back next summer in North America if he can push the competition from Luke Shaw, Djed Spence and the Newcastle Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento duo.

So what happened to Arsenal? Well, the main factor is not so much the fall of Lewis-Skelly as the rise of Riccardo Calafiori.

Myles Lewis-Skelly has been on the bench to start all Arsenal Premier League matches so far this season

He is still firmly in the thoughts of the manager of England Thomas Tuchel, who gave him a departure against Andorra last week at Villa Park

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Arteta recognizes that the 23-year-old Italian has much more experience, and in particular as an outdoor rather than converted, like Lewis-Skelly is.

The initiates of Arsenal say that Calafiori impressed the staff in the way he returned to training after fighting the injuries that limited him to 19 Premier League appearances in his first season in the northern London after a 42 million Bologna pound move.

And despite the greatest comfort of Lewis-Skelly in the midfield, after having crossed the Arsenal Academy as a central box-to-box, Calafiori brings a lot of the table from an attacker perspective.

On average per championship game last season, Calafiori provided more passes in the box (1.74 against 1.18) and open game crosses (1.01 against 0.66) than Lewis-Skelly. It also ranks higher per match in total shooting (0.91 vs 0.2), target shots (0.55 vs 0.07) and front passes (13.17 vs 10.38).

Calafiori appeared higher and higher on the field, which was almost exposed by Bryan Mbeumo during the 1-0 victory at Old Trafford – the goal from the head of the Italian – but was crucial in the 5-0 victory on Leeds, opening the midfielders of the midfield and allowing him to play the ball for the gyons for Viktor, For gyons.

But Lewis-Skelly will not be far behind in this role. The new deputy coach Gabriel Heinze worked hard with him on the crossing of the balls in the box and how to better use attack scenarios.

Heinze, serial winner in his play days with Manchester United, Real Madrid and Argentina, has the ability to unlock this region.

And Lewis-Skelly has of course shown how impressive he is in defense. Last season, he won more duels on average per championship match (6.04) than the teammates Gabriel (3.84), William Saliba (4.5), Jurrien Timber (4.94) and Calafiori (5.85).

Riccardo Calafiori spent most of his first Premier League season by hugging the touchline as a more traditional left back for Arsenal

But so far this season, it has been much more reversed and has been more involved in the Arsenal construction game

Lewis-Skelly has shown how difficult it is, after playing in the victories at home and outside Real Madrid in the quarterfinals of the Champions League last season

The young person impressed Arteta very much in his performances last season, which went a long way to Arsenal managing to finish second despite their defensive injuries crisis.

It is reliable in the plated. Its strong and athletic base allows it to move away deceptively when it is under pressure and is comfortable on the ball.

He is also steel. Take a forearm in the face during a corner kick by Jean-Philippe Mateta de Crystal Palace, or his combative display to win the man in the match as a second arsenal player to start a derby in northern London in January; Lewis-Skelly turns into another character when he is in the line of the battle.

And now he will need this steel when he faces his first real test in professional football. He had bumps on the road, like the abuses he was confronted after being sent (wrongly, he was proven later) to Wolves in January, or when he saw Red against West Ham the following month.

And of course, he fired at the center of attention by reproducing the celebration of Erling Haaland after having marked a wonderful solo objective during a 5-1 dismantling of Manchester City.

It was in City in September when he first made a name for himself, winning a reservation before he even played in a senior match for having said to David Raya to waste time, before winning a “ who f *** are “Haaland full time when he stretched the Norwegian.

Lewis-Skelly has had its share of bumps on the road so far, in particular the erroneous red card that has been shown in Wolves in January

A month later, he saw Red again for a fault on Mohammed Kudus of West Ham, while Arsenal slipped to a harmful defeat 1-0

Lewis -Skelly is one of the jewelry of the Arsenal Crown – and has shown that he was ready to defend himself in battles against Erling Haaland

The idea that his future is that any danger is fanciful – he signed a five -year agreement in his childhood club only a few months ago and is one of the jewelry of the crown of the Arsenal Academy alongside Bukayo Saka, Max Dowman and his best friend Ethan Nwaneri.

As always, the context is essential. A few weeks before its debut at Etihad last season, Lewis-Skelly played for the arsenal under the age of 21. He is considered internally as someone who, consequently of the injury crisis, has greatly exceeded where he should be at this stage of his development and has exceeded everything they could have asked for. Its ascent to the starting alignment last season has not been planned.

With the imminent World Cup next summer and clearly in Tuchel’s thoughts, Lewis-Skelly will be desperate to make his way in the Arsenal team.