Lewis-Skelly admits his midfield role was long planned by Arteta | OneFootball

Myles Lewis-Skelly’s limited minutes in early 2026 may have been explained by the player himself, as he’s revealed Mikel Arteta was preparing him for a midfield role.

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There’s been a lot of talk throughout 2026 so far about Myles Lewis-Skelly’s more limited role in the Arsenal team from January to April, which may well be a significant factor in Thomas Tuchel’s decision not to call up the 19-year-old to his England World Cup squad this summer.

Lewis-Skelly was a regular starter in 2024/25, and he at least made an appearance in 14 of Arsenal’s first 21 Premier League matches of 2025/26. But that was followed by 10 straight matches without a minute on the pitch.

Lewis-Skelly himself has shed new light on what happened over those months out of the side.

Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

“I was originally training in midfield for [a few] months, around December until April,” Lewis-Skelly explained on The Overlap.

“That period there I was just learning my craft, learning that position. For me, that was natural as a young player, because that was where I grew up playing midfield.

“But it was just to kind of refine the smaller details in that position, in that team. What different players like, when I’m in different areas of the pitch as well.

“It felt like this is where I belong, it wasn’t like ‘what’s going on here’. It felt very natural to me.”

Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

Arsenal fans had largely viewed Lewis-Skelly’s return to the team as an aligning of the stars, rather than something pre-planned.

Mikel Arteta needed to rotate between the two Champions League semi-final legs against Atletico Madrid, Lewis-Skelly performed well in that match against Fulham, and suddenly the manager had an answer to the problem of how to give Martin Zubimendi a rest.

But it’s worth remembering that Arteta had already tried to play Lewis-Skelly in midfield two full months earlier against Wigan Athletic, a plan that only fell apart when Riccardo Calafiori got injured in the warm-up.

Now, with the added context that Lewis-Skelly had been training in that midfield position since December, it becomes clear that this was all very much part of the plan.

It may have worked out more emphatically and more immediately than Arteta had expected, with Lewis-Skelly instantly taking to the role in his first start against Fulham. But it was always something the player and manager were working on, and they were eventually rewarded for those preparations.