Ian Wright Defends Myles Lewis-Skelly Amid Transfer Speculation

Ian Wright has launched a fierce defence of Arsenal academy star Myles Lewis-Skelly and torn into the growing role of intermediaries in the club’s transfer dealings, urging the Gunners to end the noise by publicly declaring the teenager not for sale.

Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, the former Arsenal striker rejected suggestions that Lewis-Skelly’s camp are pushing for a move and called out the speculation surrounding the 17-year-old’s future.

“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. Why have Arsenal not just said he's not for sale?

“He'd be a great signing for Manchester United, of course he would. Look what he's doing.”

The Lewis-Skelly rumours have intensified amid reports of interest from Manchester United, but Wright’s frustration ran deeper than one transfer story. He turned his fire on what he sees as a murky landscape of intermediaries shaping Arsenal’s 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?

“[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?”

Wright then questioned the logic and consistency of Arsenal’s wider transfer strategy, highlighting the tension between headline-chasing signings and the financial pressure 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.

“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.

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.”

That “pure profit” point goes to the heart of Wright’s concern: academy graduates count as 100 per cent profit under financial rules, making them tempting assets to move on. He fears that could distort decision-making around the club’s brightest prospects.

He namechecked Ethan Nwaneri as another example of a youngster caught in that conversation.

“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.”

For Wright, Lewis-Skelly’s emergence should be something Arsenal build around, not haggle over.

“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.”

But the former England forward circled back to the same simple demand – clarity from the club.

“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.”