Jack Wilshere left his role as Arsenal under-18 head coach last year to work at Championship club Norwich City, having coached the likes of Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly
Jack Wilshere has described rising Arsenal star Myles Lewis-Skelly as a ‘natural leader’ following his breakthrough for club and country. Lewis-Skelly, 18, received his first England call-up last week and could make his senior debut for the Three Lions during Friday’s World Cup qualifier against Albania at Wembley.
The left-back has become a regular in Mikel Arteta’s team alongside fellow teenager Ethan Nwaneri, who’s been called up to England under-21s. Wilshere, who left Arsenal in October to become a first-team coach at Norwich City in the Championship, managed both of them during his role as the Gunners’ under-18 boss and has revealed what sets them apart from the rest – and each other.
“They were just doing things that none of the other players could do,” Wilshere, who came through Arsenal’s academy as a player, said. “That helped me understand, these two are probably going to go on and play for Arsenal, and then this group of players here – which is just as important – we need to find a way of making them have a career.
“They could pick the ball up in any situation, that is under-15s, under-16s, under-18s, and make something happen. But, more importantly, Ethan and Myles are very team-orientated, and Myles more of a natural leader, and he wants to bring everyone with him, whereas Ethan was just really driven, and really, ‘What do I need to do?’.
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“He’d come and seek advice. And now in the world we live, with social media and all this, I think it’s harder, and you see some players get distracted by that. Ethan and Myles were never like that, they were just, ‘I know where I want to get to, what I want to do’, and they’ve done it.”
Wilshere is confident that the duo can go on to achieve big things under Arteta, the man who inspired him to want to become a manager after a few years of deliberation following his retirement aged 30. “I want to be a head coach,” he affirmed, speaking to the Independent.
“Coaching is not something that, as I started my career… [I’m] not thinking about that. But Mikel was the one.”
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With the Championship season on hold for the international break, Wilshere will be excited to see if Lewis-Skelly can make his debut for the England senior team while Nwaneri represents the under-21s. New England manager Thomas Tuchel admitted that he was initially reluctant to call-up Lewis-Skelly, only for his hand to be forced ahead of the March qualifiers.
“With injuries, especially with the latest injury to Lewis Hall, we ran out of left footers who can play left-back,” Tuchel explained. “We were impressed with Myles since he started. He became a regular for Arsenal – the second-best team in the country at the moment – very quickly. Mikel Arteta picks him regularly. He’s nothing but impressive.
“I can understand that it feels we have fast-forwarded a career which is already on a fast pace. I can assure you that the talks in the last days and weeks had a bit of a parental and protective vibe.
“Maybe we should not nominate him to protect him a little bit and let him go to the under-21s to breathe a little bit out of the spotlight. Is it maybe our responsibility to not take him?
“But in the end, with the injuries alongside the quality and maturity he has shown, we decided to take him. If we have young and exciting players like Myles in our squad, it is important that he has the guidance and role models and players like Jordan Henderson at his side to take care of him.”
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