Whatever happens between now and May, Arsenal fans can already look back on this season as the one where Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly announced themselves as bona fide first-team stars.
While the academy pair have yet to earn formal promotion to the senior squad, their 35 combined appearances suggest they have very bright futures at the Emirates.
They’ve certainly made an impression on their teammates, who’ve been wowed by their eagerness to learn and raw talent. Declan Rice recently described Lewis-Skelly as “unbelievable,” while a senior figure at the club told Arseblog News this week that they view the 18-year-old as a future club captain. Leo Trossard is equally impressed.
“I think he has shown his qualities over the past few weeks to everyone,” he said of the midfielder-turned-full-back.
“We have seen it already over the past months that he had the capability of doing that and now he is showing it on the big stage.
“He’s such a good player, so strong as well for his age, it’s unbelievable and also down to earth and that’s also one of his biggest qualities. He is also the same as Ethan [Nwaneri], a bright future ahead of him and I’m really pleased for those two.
“I think, as I said before, he’s really down to earth and he knows what he’s dealing with.
“He’s a class player and as I said, the more games he will play, the better he will get I think.”
After a recent injury kept him out of the limelight, Nwaneri’s impressive contribution this season – five goals and counting – is set to resume. Now back to full fitness, he’s expected to be part of the squad that faces Dinamo Zagreb on Wednesday.
His return should ease the burden on players like Trossard, who is delighted to have the teenager back.
“He’s just an amazing player,” said the Belgian. “You can tell already in training sessions how confident he is as well, beating his man one-on-one. He has such a good shot as well, scoring goals.
“He has a bright future ahead of him and can help us a lot.”
Following hot on the heels of Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly is 15-year-old Max Dowman. The highly-rated midfielder has been training regularly with the first team having recently become the youngest player to score in the UEFA Youth League and the youngest player to represent Arsenal’s under-21s.
Many supporters have wondered whether Dowman might be given a chance to break Nwaneri’s record as the senior side’s youngest player. However, the rules won’t allow it because, at the end of August 2024, he wasn’t yet 15 years old (The Athletic explains more here). Had he been old enough, you suspect Mikel Arteta would have been tempted to throw him in the deep end.
“He’s very impressive,” said the Spaniard on Tuesday. “At his age as well, some of the things he does in training are unbelievable. He’s a player with huge talent and we have a lot of belief that we can develop him to become one of our own. He’s doing very well so far.
“At the moment with all the legislation there are a lot of restrictions for your age, something that in other countries you don’t even mention.
“We’ll have to wait and see. He’s taking very fast steps because every time you put him in a different challenge, a different level, he overcomes that hurdle really quickly which is great.”
Sounds like BFG is doing a great job, Per’s pipeline.
That’s what his wife calls it
What sort of player is Dowman? Keep hearing the hype and wondering where he’s going to fit in? Will he be the mythical left 8?
Love that name, Max Dowman. Sounds much more like an American quarterback than a English footballer, or if footballer then more a stout defender than a shifty creative midfielder. Seems he might completely change that paradigm I just made up. He’s certainly endowed with the necessary talent, hopefully he fulfills it to the max.
Max Steel would work for your narrative
Max Power!
Myles and Ethan are the positive news to our injury list, even though it’s early days in their careers there is a lot to like, not only their respective skills but the maturity in handling their chance, with Ethan although still raw to the experience of the PL he has shown to be an amazing talent, where that fits in when Buyako is back will be a puzzle, to upsurb Trossard/Martinelli on the left is a big ask also, as with Myles the lad has a lot about him, strength and attitude for a player keeping out Kiwior and Tierney… Read more »
Love that we’re growing our own, let the young ones know they can make it to the first team if they are good enough and work hard enough. Big things coming, and I can’t wait. COYG!
I also enjoyed growing my own back in the 90’s.
We’d be a bit lost without them this season. Amazing contribution and already trusted by senior pros. Like two new £30m signings
They’re performing like £30m signings but are already worth at least £50m each. I don’t think it’s out of the question that a couple of clubs would pay us 60 or even more for either of them given what they’re showing at their age.
Remember when we broke our club record paying £15m for Andrey Arshavin just 15 years ago? Now we’re pumping out kids worth 3-4 times as much out of our academy.
At just 15, Dowman should be kept out of the limelight and just left to develop his game in peace. Putting pressure on this young boy is a big mistake. I’m old enough to remember many a wonderkid who couldn’t handle the pressure.
His time will come if he turns out to be good enough.
As AW once famously said “if you’re good enough; you’re old enuf”!
A couple of seasons down the line, it’s not impossible to imagine an Arsenal team with Saka, Ethan, Myles and Max playing together at the same time. How awesome would that be.