Myles Lewis-Skelly walked off the Arsenal pitch three weeks ago to a standing ovation in a Champions League semi-final, and for Grant Cornock it felt like a line from the teenager’s past had come back into focus. “It’s where he belongs,” Cornock said after messaging the 19-year-old following the game.
Cornock remembers Lewis-Skelly before the stadium noise and the England caps, when he was an 11-year-old at Aldenham School in Hertfordshire throwing the Year 7 shot put 11 metres 75cm. “That’s your level, this is what you’re capable of,” Cornock said of the message he sent after the semi-final. “Myles threw the shot 11 metres 75cm (aged 11).”
The memory matters because Lewis-Skelly’s rise was sudden and loud. He scored on his England debut in March last year, then produced a performance against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in the Champions League quarter-final the following month. By the end of that campaign he had played 39 times for Arsenal, won four England caps and been nominated for the PFA Young Player of the Year award, all while operating out of position at left-back.
Cornock, who is director of sport at Aldenham and a former professional with Watford, said that version of Lewis-Skelly was easy to celebrate. “Then you suddenly realise, wait a minute, this kid isn’t just a very good footballer, he is a specimen at 10 years old!” he said. Arsenal rewarded that trajectory with a five-year contract last summer, and the 60,000 fans inside the ground three weeks ago were still treating him like one of the club’s brightest young names.
The harder part came after the breakthrough. In the following season, Lewis-Skelly started only one Premier League game up until April, a reduction that also cost him his place in the England squad. Cornock said online criticism followed, with some saying he was not good enough to play centre midfield and others arguing Arsenal had bought a better left-back. “I’ve said to Myles this season, if it wasn’t for what happened last year, if he hadn’t played for England, if he hadn’t made 30-odd appearances, and he’d then had this season, he’d probably be very happy sitting on the bench. But when you get put up there and everyone talks about you, and the crowd sing your name, it’s hard to have that comedown,” Cornock said.
That is why the support around him now carries extra weight. Cornock said he was struck by a remark from Declan Rice, who said the manager has been tough on Myles. “And that’s why I was really pleased to hear what Declan Rice said,” he said. “For him to say that the manager has been tough on Myles — not many people say something like that.” Lewis-Skelly has already shown he can rise fast; the question left hanging is how Arsenal use him now after the applause, the scrutiny and the season that made both feel earned.
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