Ian Wright Defends Arsenal's Myles Lewis-Skelly Amid Transfer Chaos

Ian Wright has launched a fierce defence of Arsenal academy star Myles Lewis-Skelly and taken aim at the club’s transfer strategy, accusing intermediaries and mixed messaging of fuelling unnecessary chaos around the teenager’s future.

Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, the former Arsenal striker dismissed the swirl of rumours linking Lewis-Skelly with a move away and hit out at suggestions that the player’s family were pushing for a transfer.

“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.”

For Wright, the solution is brutally simple. Arsenal, he feels, are inviting speculation by staying silent.

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

The concern runs deeper than one highly rated midfielder. Wright fears a pattern, one he believes is driven by the growing power of go-betweens in the market.

“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?”

Lewis-Skelly is not the only name on Wright’s mind. He pointed to Gabriel Martinelli as another example of a player whose name has been circulated without any apparent direct contact from the club.

“[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?”

From there, Wright turned his fire on what he sees as a contradiction at the heart of Arsenal’s transfer plans. On one hand, they are linked with superstar-level signings. On the other, homegrown players seem to be pushed towards the exit to ease the books.

“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 said.

Arsenal’s squad size and the pressure of financial rules, he argued, are combining to put a target on the backs of academy graduates, who count as “pure profit” in the accounts.

“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,” Wright continued. “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 name-checked Ethan Nwaneri as another talent caught in that tension. This time, though, Wright is cautiously encouraged by what he’s hearing.

“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.”

Lewis-Skelly, by contrast, has already shown enough, in Wright’s eyes, to attract serious attention from elite rivals.

“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.”

That is exactly why Wright cannot understand the club’s reluctance to shut the door on a sale and send a clear message to both player and market.

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