Arsenal star Myles Lewis-Skelly enjoyed the perfect start to his England career by scoring the first goal of the Thomas Tuchel era but it was something that the Three Lions boss saw coming
Thomas Tuchel talked up Myles Lewis-Skelly’s England credentials just minutes before the Arsenal star marked his dream debut with a goal in Friday night’s match with Albania in front of a sellout Wembley crowd.
The young Gunners defender was included in the German’s debut Three Lions squad this month. He was then handed a start in Tuchel’s first game at the helm against Albania – and things then got even better for the uber-talented teenager as he netted the first goal of his new boss’ reign.
Lewis-Skelly, 18, ghosted in behind the Albania back-line with a shrewd off the ball run and coolly dispatched a brilliant pass from Jude Bellingham to become the youngest player to ever score on their England debut. Despite his tender years, Tuchel had already envisaged a perfect start to Lewis-Skelly’s international career.
Speaking ahead of Friday’s game, Tuchel said: “Impressive. I understand why everyone loves the boy – a big character and very talented player. He is ready to go.”
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“A lot of people will be impressed with him,” he added in his first squad selection press conference. “With injuries, we ran a little bit out of left-footers who can play left-back. We were always impressed with Myles and he quickly became a regular player for the second best team in the country. I have huge confidence in the club that they still pick him regularly, and he has been very impressive from the very start.
“I can understand it feels a bit like we’ve fast forwarded a career that is already at fast pace, but I can assure you the talks in the last days and weeks had a kind of parental and protective vibe. We felt like maybe we shouldn’t nominate him to protect him a little bit and to not skip him being in the under-21s to let him breathe a bit out of the spotlight. But with injuries, the quality and his maturity, we have decided to take him. He is a young and exciting player.”
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And while Tuchel has talked up Lewis-Skelly, the England star has done the same for Tuchel. He said: “It’s important because just to meet him and see what he’s like and how he acts around the group and he’s very good. I can’t tell you how excited I am to start working. That’s what I’ve come here for – to impress him and impress the boys and really cement my place in the teams.
“There’s a lot of new faces and a lot of new people, so just to get to know everyone is a lot but the boys are very nice and they’ve helped me settle in very well which is good.”
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