Arsenal celebrate Lewis-Skelly England heroics with MAJOR new deal

Arsenal’s future appears bright after Myles Lewis-Skelly’s goalscoring debut for England and the Gunners are set for another major boost in their long-term plans for their young stars.

Lewis-Skelly was named man-of-the-match against Albania after becoming England’s youngest-ever player to score on their debut when he opened the scoring after 20 minutes in Thomas Tuchel’s first match.

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It marked a meteoric rise for Lewis-Skelly, who only made his first ever senior appearance in September, with the 18-year-old now a firm regular in Mikel Arteta’s side.

And the Arsenal manager’s faith in his youngsters could be further rewarded after a report in the Daily Mail claiming that Ethan Nwaneri is close to penning a new long-term contract at the Emirates, confirming FootballTransfers’ exclusive from August last year.

Like Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri has broken into Arsenal’s senior side this season, particularly in recent months with the injuries to senior attackers such as Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz.

Having turned 18 this week, Nwaneri is now eligible to sign a five-year extension and Arsenal have warded off interest from Manchester City and Chelsea to seemingly commit their academy graduate to commit his future to the club.

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Nwaneri set for new Arsenal deal after becoming integral for Arteta

Nwaneri became the youngest player to appear in a Premier League game when he made his debut for Arsenal aged 15 years and 181 days in 2022 but he only featured in one more game since then before this season.

Arteta gave Nwaneri the opportunity to impress in the Carabao Cup and the teenager duly delivered, scoring three times across four games, leading to his eventual increase in Premier League game time.

Despite being a midfielder by trade, Arsenal’s injury crisis in attack has often seen Nwaneri feature on the wing or even up front and ten of his last 13 appearances have been starts.

Having seen Lewis-Skelly thrive for England, Nwaneri will hope his proposed new deal will be the catalyst for his own international success after making his debut for the under-21 side this week.