Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly has been called up by the England u21s for the March internationals, along with Ethan Nwaneri and Tommy Setford.
Arsenal left-back Myles Lewis-Skelly is set to make his first appearances for the England u21s, with England confirming that he’s received a call-up for the March break alongside fellow Gunners Ethan Nwaneri and Tommy Setford.
Nwaneri is obviously currently on loan with Marseille, but he remains contracted to Arsenal for the long-term, and Lewis-Skelly has spent plenty of time playing alongside his former academy teammate and friend.
The England u21s will play Andorra on Friday, March 27th at 18:30 GMT and Moldova on Tuesday, March 31st at 19:00 BST. Both games will be shown on the England YouTube channel.
In some ways, Lewis-Skelly’s call-up might feel like a step back, amid suggestions that he’s unlikely to be involved with the England senior team at the World Cup this summer.
The 19-year-old has already made six appearances and scored for the England first team, so it could be argued he’s moved beyond youth football.
But players are regularly held back in the England u21s for much longer than they are in club football.
You only have to look at the list of call-ups to see the evidence of that, with regular senior club players like Rico Lewis, Brooke Norton-Cuffy, Jobe Bellingham, Jack Hinshelwood and others all involved in the u21 squad this month.
It was unusual that Lewis-Skelly skipped this level to begin with, not that he’s now dropping down for a couple of games.
As for the other two, Setford made his England u21 debut in November, keeping a couple of clean sheets against the Republic of Ireland and Slovakia. Nwaneri has played 13 times for the England u21s, contributing five goals and assists including a goal in that Slovakia win.
All three will be hoping to make a positive impression over the break, as they’d all probably like to be playing for their clubs a bit more often.