Ian Wright Defends Myles Lewis-Skelly Amid Transfer Speculation

Ian Wright has launched a fierce defence of Arsenal youngster Myles Lewis-Skelly and hit out at the growing influence of intermediaries around the club’s transfer business, insisting the teenager does not want to leave.

Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, the former Arsenal striker dismissed talk that Lewis-Skelly’s camp are pushing for a move and called for supporters to stop targeting the player’s family.

“I don't know where that's coming from because I know for a fact that's not coming from his team,” Wright said. “It's not coming from his mum. Arsenal fans need to chill out with his mum saying that she's touting him about. Myles has already said he's happy to stay.

“Why have Arsenal not just said he's not for sale? He'd be a great signing for Manchester United, of course he would. Look what he's doing.”

That question – why Arsenal have not publicly closed the door – clearly bothers Wright. He repeatedly returned to it, using Lewis-Skelly’s situation to highlight what he sees as a wider problem in the way the club now operate.

“There’s things happening and this again is what I'm worried about with Arsenal, it's the way we're doing business with intermediaries now,” he said. “How's that story happening when we know for a fact they're happy and want to stay?

“[Gabriel] Martinelli has not been contacted by anybody at the club but has been touted about everywhere, who is doing that? Why is that happening?”

Wright then turned his fire on what he described as a confusing and contradictory transfer strategy, especially in the context of profit and sustainability rules and the pressure they place on homegrown players.

“You know what's confusing? How can we be in for Vinicius Junior when we're looking to break records trying to sign this guy but now we're desperate to sell. What's going on?” he asked.

“We've got a big squad and somebody has to leave but it seems like everyone leaving Arsenal is going to Turkey, that's another thing.

The unfortunate thing you get when you've got a player who comes through the academy and breaks into the first team and does what they do, you've always got that noose of pure profit on them.”

He linked Lewis-Skelly’s situation with that of Ethan Nwaneri, another highly rated Hale End product whose future has also been the subject of speculation.

“It's the same with Ethan Nwaneri. I'm hearing now that they're not going to sell him, they want to loan him which I'm quite pleased about because I don't think at any stage he's had a run to have a go at playing in that team,” Wright said.

For Wright, that is the crux: academy players shining, big clubs circling, and Arsenal’s stance not being made crystal clear.

“When you've got someone like Myles who is playing well, it's unbelievable what he's capable of doing then of course Manchester United will see if something can happen,” he said. “They've seen Guimaraes come in, they've seen Declan Rice.”

But the former England forward insists the midfielder’s preference is not in doubt.

“He doesn't want to leave and that's the thing that's really baffling me – why Arsenal don't just come in and say he's not for sale.”