MYLES LEWIS-SKELLY is a really good kid, from a great family and blessed with a wonderful talent.
I’m convinced he will be named in Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad on Friday because, just months after his Arsenal debut, he is already the best, fit left-back in the country.
Myles Lewis-Skelly has been a revelation since breaking into Arsenal’s first team[/caption]
The teenager has shown a skill set and composure well beyond his years[/caption]
The teenager’s mum and agent, Marcia, is keeping him on the straight and narrow[/caption]
SunSport columnist Troy Deeney has some pearls of wisdom for the teenager[/caption]
And I’ve no worries about him going off the rails, having met Myles and knowing his mum, Marcia Lewis — who has a degree in football business — is her son’s agent and runs an online platform offering advice to other emerging young players and their parents.
But like so many youngsters who emerge into first-team football, it feels like Myles, 18, is too hungry, that he wants it too much right now.
He’s already had two red cards, one of them rescinded, and was lucky not to be sent off for two yellows in Arsenal’s 7-1 thrashing of PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday, when he was substituted after 35 minutes for his own protection.
It would be easy to assume Myles is a young hot-head but that isn’t the case.
When he copied Erling Haaland’s celebration after scoring his first senior goal in the 5-1 hammering of Manchester City last month, plenty said he was getting too big for his boots.
If I’d been his captain and he’d done that, I’d have laughed and said ‘Well done — but beware that everyone is going to be out to get you now. Every City player, every City fan and plenty of others in the game’.
That celebration was youthful exuberance; there was no malice involved but it made him a target.
Myles does need guidance from senior pros at Arsenal — his captain Martin Odegaard was a teenage wonderkid at Real Madrid who had some difficult times before he reinvented himself with the Gunners.
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He will have a lot of good advice to pass on.
I’ve lost count of the number of talented kids I’ve given guidance to as a captain at Watford and Birmingham. Some are from tough backgrounds, like I was. Some are too cocky. Some are too shy.
Some kids might get their pro debut, have a great game or two, then let their standards slip — turning up late for training, moaning when they’re back on the bench for a while.
Many, like Myles, are just impatient — over-eager to impress their team-mates, manager and fans.
When Joao Pedro arrived at Watford as a teenager, he was one I had a few serious conversations with.
He was too keen to prove he was a man, that he was ready for English football, that he wasn’t, in his own words, a “soft Brazilian”.
Myles Lewis-Skelly is well and truly repaying Mikel Arteta’s faith in him[/caption]
So when he got kicked, in training as well as in matches, he started losing his head and picking fights.
As his skipper and strike partner, I’d tell him: “I’ll do the ugly stuff, that’s my skill set. I’ll make sure nobody bullies you, you just play your football.”
I remember telling Joao that they were only kicking him because he was good. If he wasn’t any good, they’d ignore him.
He’s matured into a fine Premier League forward at Brighton because he’s gone through that essential learning process.
When you break into first-team football, especially in the top flight, everything seems great, but it’s a rollercoaster — the ups and downs take so much getting used to.
For Myles, his red card against West Ham was like the football gods bringing him down to earth after the high of his goal — and that celebration — against City.
Myles Lewis-Skelly was given his marching orders in Arsenal’s defeat to West Ham[/caption]
The red card against West Ham was like the football gods, according to Troy Deeney[/caption]
One week, supporters were hero- worshipping him.
The next, some of those same fans were blaming him for the fact Arsenal’s title bid is over.
Everything can change from match to match. The trick is to accept those extremes and treat them in a level-headed manner.
Being taken off before half-time against PSV is another lesson for Myles.
But he is keeping a title-winner, Oleksandr Zinchenko, out of the Arsenal team for a reason — because he’s seriously good. I have already heard him being compared to Ashley Cole.
We seriously need to relax on that kind of talk because Ashley was the best left-back in the world for years.
But Myles will surely be in Tuchel’s squad next week, especially with Lewis Hall and Luke Shaw injured and with left-back having been such a problem position for England.
That is another experience that is going to make his head spin.
Some players struggle to deal with heading into international football at such a young age.
At the end of this season, he is going to stop and think, ‘Wow, that was some whirlwind I’ve just experienced.’
But here is another bit of advice I could pass on to him: You only get a week or two to properly relax during the summer — and then it’s back on that white-knuckle ride all over again!
Myles Lewis-Skelly is a shoe-in for Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad[/caption]
