Myles Lewis-Skelly Thanks Per Mertesacker For Hale End Impact

Myles Lewis-Skelly has credited Per Mertesacker with helping shape the standards and values behind his Arsenal rise in a personal tribute at Hale End’s farewell event for Academy manager, who is leaving the Gunners at the end of the season.

The Arsenal youngster spoke as the academy recognised Mertesacker’s contribution after his work overseeing the club’s youth pathway. Rather than focusing only on football, Lewis-Skelly’s message centred on the influence Mertesacker had on him as a person.

“First of all, I’m so grateful to be here tonight, to represent Per for everything that you’ve done for me and my family, the club,” Lewis-Skelly said.

He then used a Serena Williams quote to explain why Mertesacker’s role had mattered so much to his journey.

“You don’t make it to this level alone,” Lewis-Skelly said. “It takes a village of people who believed in you, and you were just a kid with a dream.

“Per, you’re a part of my village, and I’m here, and I’m able to show my gratitude to you.”

That was the strongest theme of the tribute. Lewis-Skelly presented Mertesacker not simply as an academy figurehead, but as one of the people who helped guide him through the stages required to reach senior football at Arsenal.

He also highlighted the values Mertesacker placed on education and character, saying the former defender taught him that identity had to come before profession.

“You taught me that before a football player, before the profession, the occupation, that you’re a human being first,” he said.

That line carried the weight of the speech. It showed the kind of influence Arsenal want Hale End to provide: not just technical development, but humility, respect, curiosity and an understanding of responsibility.

Lewis-Skelly also recalled the impression Mertesacker made on the training pitch when he joined an academy session during his younger years. For a player at around the under-12 or under-13 level, the presence of Mertesacker (and height) was difficult to forget.

He remembered a possession drill where the German immediately set the tone.

“As soon as the manager blew the whistle, all you could hear is, ‘Press! Press! Press!’”

Looking back, Lewis-Skelly said that intensity had stayed with him.

“Every day in training now, I remember that Per showed me the levels, showed me the intensity required to be the very best,” he said.

That is what makes the tribute relevant beyond the farewell event itself. Lewis-Skelly’s rise has become one of the clearest examples of the Hale End pathway, and his words offered direct insight into the standards that underpin it.

For Arsenal, Mertesacker’s legacy will be seen partly through the players who continue to emerge from the academy. Lewis-Skelly’s tribute made clear that his influence was not only about producing footballers, but about shaping the people behind them.