Myles Lewis-Skelly was left out of Thomas Tuchel's latest squad and the England manager has a message for the Arsenal star after starting just four games this season
A number of Premier League clubs are interested in signing Myles Lewis-Skelly after the Arsenal left-back was told that he needed more game time by Thomas Tuchel. Lewis-Skelly, 19, was recently left out of Tuchel's England squad for the first time this season, having not yet started a league game in 2025-26.
All four of the defender's starts have come in the Champions League and Carabao Cup, with Mikel Arteta preferring Riccardo Calafiori for top-flight matches. Arsenal then signed Piero Hincapie on transfer deadline day, increasing the competition at left-back.
Lewis-Skelly can play in midfield, too, but Arteta's decision to sign both Martin Zubimendi and Christian Norgaard have also resulted in fewer minutes for the World Cup hopeful. After England face Serbia and Albania this week, there's just one more camp - in March - before Tuchel names his squad for the tournament next summer.
Sky Sports report that while England staff value Lewis-Skelly both as a player and person, he needs to be playing more regularly in order to put himself in contention. It's added that multiple Premier League clubs are monitoring his situation and are interested in brokering a January transfer.
Arsenal, however, aren't looking to sell players and Lewis-Skelly signed a five-year contract extension in June. The 19-year-old was a breakout star last season, scoring on his debut at Wembley earlier this year before earning a further five caps.
But Lewis-Skelly's name was missing when Tuchel announced his latest set of call-ups, preferring Manchester City's Nico O'Reilly. "Myles was a very good team-mate and played for us in the last camp in the World Cup qualifier in Riga, so was Ruben Loftus-Cheek, so was Morgan Gibbs-White," the England manager explained.
"But I said last time there is a component to it and that is about competition and performance and the door is always open for guys who perform on a high level regularly. Myles, Ruben and Morgan got out-performed by O'Reilly, Alex Scott and Jude Bellingham in their positions.
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"Myles simply needs more starts, more minutes. Now came a time when O'Reilly had so many starts in that position, so he is slightly ahead for this camp."
Arteta has said that he'll put an arm around Lewis-Skelly amid the disappointment. "Yes, for sure, I think we are here to support and help each other and to give a good perspective of the situation, and in the case of Myles, when you look at his age, what he's already done, he's just remarkable," the Arsenal boss commented.
"So don't look at the one moment what is happening for you because maybe it happens for the right reason and today you cannot see it."