Ian Wright Defends Myles Lewis-Skelly Amid Transfer Speculation
Ian Wright has launched a fierce defence of Arsenal academy star Myles Lewis-Skelly and hit out at the growing role of intermediaries in the club’s transfer dealings, accusing outside voices of muddying the waters around the teenager’s future.
Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, the former Arsenal striker dismissed suggestions that Lewis-Skelly’s camp are pushing for a move and urged supporters to stop blaming the player’s family for the noise around him.
“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 obvious. Arsenal, he believes, are allowing the story to run when a firm stance would end it.
“Why have Arsenal not just said he's not for sale?” he continued. “He'd be a great signing for Manchester United, of course he would. Look what he's doing.”
That, in Wright’s eyes, is the heart of the problem. Not the player. Not his family. The way Arsenal are doing business.
“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 example that alarms him. Wright pointed to Gabriel Martinelli as another case of a player being talked about without clear communication 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?”
The 60-year-old then widened his criticism to Arsenal’s broader transfer strategy, highlighting what he sees as a contradiction between ambitious targets and the apparent willingness to cash in on homegrown talent.
“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.
Arsenal’s need to balance the books under profit and sustainability rules, Wright argued, places a particular burden on academy products, whose sales 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,” he said. “The unfortunate thing you get when you've got a player who comes through the academy and breaks in to the first team and does what they do, you've always got that noose of pure profit on them.”
He drew a parallel with Ethan Nwaneri, another highly rated youngster whose future has been the subject of debate.
“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, though, sits at the centre of the current storm. Wright stressed just how highly he rates the midfielder and why that naturally attracts interest from clubs like Manchester United.
“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.”
For Wright, the most frustrating part is that, despite the noise, the player’s own stance is clear.
“He doesn't want to leave and that's the thing that's really baffling me is why Arsenal don't just come in and say he's not for sale.”
