Declan Rice on Myles Lewis-Skelly’s sudden rise: ‘He can definitely have a long England career’ | OneFootball

Declan Rice believes Arsenal teammate Myles Lewis-Skelly will have ‘a long England career’ after impressing and scoring on his Three Lions debut.

Lewis-Skelly, who was given his England debut from the start against Albania in manager Thomas Tuchel’s first game in charge, was a presence on the left-hand side from the off.

The 18-year-old, who was only given his Arsenal debut in September 2024 during the Gunners’ 2-2 draw against Manchester City, celebrated his first appearance for his country by scoring the first goal of the Tuchel era.

When asked about Lewis-Skelly’s rise, Rice was insistent he could see the talent the young fullback had from the moment his club mate broke into the first team:

“When Myles first broke into the team I knew his talent straight away,” Rice said. “He trained with us a lot last year at Arsenal but obviously didn’t really play. But I see his talent straight away.

“And then this year the way he stepped up and matured over the summer and the way he’s trained with us every day since. It’s been incredible.

“The way he looks after himself, the way he prepares for matches. He’s such a good kid. He’s been brought up really well. His mum’s unbelievable for him. She’s such a nice lady as well. So it’s no surprise that he’s doing really well because he’s got the right support network around him.

“He’s got people at the club that are pushing him. He’s not too comfortable. He knows he needs to keep going. The other night when he knew he was starting, he didn’t even know he was starting. No-one knew the team until the day.

“But he just took it in his stride and he played how he’d done for Arsenal all season. We have so many good left-backs in the country.

“You need to be on it every time you come here and you need to be able to push to start, and Myles is only 18. We can’t put that emphasis on him straight away that he’s going to be in England and start for the next 10 years.

“You don’t want to put that pressure on him. Just let him keep playing and keep enjoying his football. If he wants to keep being hungry and being the best he can be, he can definitely have a long England career for sure.”