Mikel Arteta dreams of winning the Premier League with Arsenal's own class of '92.
Under the mentoring of Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United began to dominate English football from 1992 with Academy stars such as David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs and Gary and Phil Neville.
Towards the end of the 2002/03 campaign, that group of Fergie -Relingen had won eight Prem titles, three FA cups and one Champions League crown.
In August, with the 23-year-old Bukayo Saka his only Hale End that started XI representative, said Arteta: “I want a team that is half Academy, half foreign and the Premier League and Champions League consistently win.”
At the time it sounded like a far -fetched soundbite of the press conference.
Six months later, and Arteta's class '24 gets the headlines in the 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri and 18-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly.
After he came to the seniors last summer during a tour for the season through the States, Lewis-Skelly quickly became a cult hero of left-back, jumping professionals such as Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Midfielder Nwaneri has been around in the Arteta team for a few years now and makes his name in September 2022 as the youngest Prem-Debutant ever at 15 years and 181 days for another Cameo from the bank in West Ham in February 2024.
But this season the couple grabbed their moment together and accepted the challenges of the top flight side by side. Jack Wilshere – who in both Arsenal's U18s – suggested that their immense talent was sometimes “unpowerable”.
They have already made this term a combined 41 first team performances. Nwaneri has seven goals in 22 games. Lewis-Skelly has one goal in 19 games.
Arteta said: 'They are very lucky that they have each other. There is a band. It is special for them.
“If you see the two walking side by side, talking to each other, there is a chemistry.”
Prior to the start of the first time in Arsenal's 5-1 Carabao Cup victory on Bolton in September, Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly spent on the Emirates field before they kicked it all.
In last week's 2-1 victory in Girona, on his first Champions League start, Nwaneri scored a curling beauty to earn the man of the game.
On full-time, as he had photos with his price on the side of the field, which was less than six feet as his hype-man? Of course, Lewis-Skelly.
In the 1-0 win at Wolves last month, Lewis-Skelly was sent controversially just before the rest-on the day that he and Nwaneri were the first two English players of 18 years or younger to start a Prem match for Arsenal for 26 years .
Lewis-Skelly was emotional and desperate. Nwaneri was immersed during the break, so decided to spend the second half in the Molineux dressing room with Lewis-Skell, watch the rest of the game on a TV screen and to celebrate the late winner of Riccardo Calafiori.
They are really inseparable and join the Arsenal Academy in 2015 as eight -year -olds after a stint in Chelsea. Nwaneri recently revealed: “We have been his best friends since we were six.
“Now we are together in the Arsenal team. It's crazy, right?” Yes, that's it.
They live close together in London and often train together. They constantly walk around the training basis in London like a duo. On flights to games are sitting friends.
With the U17s of England they studied together for their GCSEs at the European Championships 2023 in Hungarian hotel rooms.
The only place where they are divorced is strange, is in the first team chapter from Emirates.
Due to the security restrictions, since Nwaneri is younger than 18, he must be changed before and after the group matches.
That will change next month when Nwaneri celebrates his birthday, not that he will have a wild party, so his reserved and shy personality. He is not yet natural on camera in interviews.
They may be close friends, but the personality of Lewis-Skelly is the opposite-emotional and expressive, often bombarding Arteta with questions during training sessions.
After he was booked as a part in the Etihad in September before he made his prem-debut in the 2-2 draw against Manchester City, he celebrated on full-time to Erling Haaland.
And last weekend, he scored his first senior goal against City, he offered Haaland's meditation celebration.
This is nothing new. Lewis-Skelly was immersed in the 2-1 victory over Tottenham on the Emirates, chose to curb the crowd and points to the insignia when he walked around the side of the field.
And in the aftermath of those traces, Lewis-Skelly was laughing and jokes with club legend Ian Wright about his grandmother in front of the cameras.
In Girona, on the other hand, while he walked in front of the end that sang his name, Nwaneri quickly kept himself and applauded quickly before he walked to the couch.
He also scored against the city in the 5-1 banging, fourth by just walking away and blending his shoulders.
They might be chalk and cheese, but Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri take England and Europe, hand in hand. Perhaps Arteta will still get his wish.
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