Nigel Winterburn has been impressed by the rise of Myles Lewis-Skelly but said the Arsenal full-back must be wary not to develop a reputation for being hot-headed.
Lewis-Skelly’s impressive debut season has seen him fast-tracked from a promising young talent to regular starter at left-back in Mikel Arteta’s side.
And while the 18-year-old has provided much-needed depth for a side often riddled with defensive injuries, he has also shown his age on several occasions.
Last month, Lewis-Skelly was shown a red card 17 minutes after coming off the bench against West Ham as the Gunners lost 1-0 at the Emirates.
And in midweek, he was hooked after just 35 minutes having been fortunate to avoid another sending off for fouling PSV Eindhoven defender Richard Ledezma while already on a booking.
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Lewis-Skelly could well return to the starting lineup for Sunday’s important Premier League clash with Manchester United, but Winterburn believes that, in the long run, the youngster must learn to refine his defensive tendencies.
‘He’s got huge talent that’s for sure. At the start of the season he wasn’t first choice left-back but now you’d have to say that he is,’ the former Arsenal full-back told Metro.
‘He’s just had a slight issue in the last few weeks with the sending off but he’s a young man and what he needs to do under the guidance of Mikel Arteta is to work on his self-control.
‘When you’re on a yellow card in this day and age, you can’t afford to be going to ground for a tackle and mistiming challenges because the likelihood is you’re going off.
‘Once he got booked, I would have liked to have seen a senior player go over to him and tell him to stay on his feet and show the defenders into the areas where we are strong. Intercept but don’t tackle.’
Winterburn continued: ‘He’s had such a rise, he’s a huge talent, it’s just a case of trying to manage the game yourself in certain situations.
‘You can’t always be as aggressive as you want to be when you pick up cards, and you’ve got to manage the game slightly differently. He’s going to have to learn, otherwise he will get a reputation as someone you can wind up easily.
‘But they’ll guide him and work on that. If you were asking me, I’d say work on training yourself to keep doing what you’re doing, but if you pick up a card, you need to be so disciplined and he will do that.’
Ian Wright, meanwhile, admitted that Lewis-Skelly was fortunate to stay on the pitch against PSV but suggested the teenager’s long-term future could be further up the pitch in Arteta’s side.
‘He could have easily been sent off and it’s just dependent on what ref you’ve got,’ he said on Wrighty’s House podcast.
‘We were fortunate to have that ref because you don’t want to have the narrative to be on Myles Lewis-Skelly, who is a young player, playing in multiple positions, finding himself in different areas of the pitch.
‘Do you know something? He’s a No.8, man. You can see that all day long. I can’t wait for that to happen.’
Nigel Winterburn was talking to Metro on behalf of betting offers.
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