Arsenal wonderkid set for first England national team call-up

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 19 Feb 2025 14:59 GMT
• 3 min read

Myles Lewis-Skelly is set for his first England call-up after his breakout season at Arsenal.

According to The Sun, England manager Thomas Tuchel is a huge fan of the Arsenal left-back and is set to call him up next month.

England begin their 2024 World Cup qualifying campaign at the end of March with home matches against Albania and Latvia.

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Tuchel will soon announce his first squad after succeeding Gareth Southgate as manager.

Left back has been a problem area for England for some time with a dearth of players in the position.

Last summer at Euro 2024, England often played Kieran Trippier out of position at left back before fielding a half fit Luke Shaw in the 2-1 final defeat to Spain.

Ben Chilwell has seen his career fall away, while other options include Newcastle’s Lewis Hall or Tottenham’s Djed Spence.

But Tuchel appears to fancy Lewis-Skelly despite the youngster only playing eight games for Arsenal so far.

The 18-year-old Lewis-Skelly has been one of the breakout stars of the season in the Premier League.

He has established himself as Arsenal’s first-choice left back, even pushing big money summer signing Riccardo Calafiori onto the bench.

Lewis-Skelly has been so good that he has even been compared to former Arsenal star Ashley Cole, and Wright-Phillips agrees.

“Ethan Nwaneri, I think he’s a fantastic player, but, honestly, I am a Lewis-Skelly fan. The kid is unbelievable,” former Chelsea and England winger Shaun Wright-Phillips said.

“I’ll go as far as to say, I’d say he’s the best, not even actual left-back, but he’s the best person I’ve seen at left-back since Ashley Cole.”

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Cole came through the Arsenal youth system and established himself into one of the best left backs in the world.

He won two Premier League titles and made over 200 appearances before a fallout with the club over a new contract led him to join Chelsea in 2006.

In almost two decades since then, Arsenal have struggled to find a left back close to Cole’s quality.

But there is great excitement in north London that Arsenal may have now found themselves a phenomenal new player in the position.

And there is the same hope that England may also have found themselves a new, great left back.