Couple of bits for us to dig into today, starting with Sky Sports reporting that there are a few clubs monitoring his situation after he’s been warned by Thomas Tuchel that he needs to play more to make the World Cup.

I have a few feelings on this. Firstly, the lad is 19-years-old. This isn’t a season pro who has starred for a decade in the first team. He broke through, was excellent, we all love him and he’s found game time a little more difficult to come by due to the ongoing fitness of Riccardo Calafiori and the fact that Hincapie has emerged as a left back option this season. Naturally Thomas Tuchel is going to say that he wants players in his squad who play regularly to make the final. He has his job for England and he’s going to say that. But for Sky Sports to go in on reporting this feels a little like a major media outlet trying to flame any potential fans of discontent.

Of course clubs will be interested in Myles. He has shown an electric burst of pace, he can beat players and glide past them with ease (as evidenced by the goal he set up for Martinelli against Atletico) and all of us feel like he has a bright future at the club. Who wouldn’t want to be interested in him? The report does say Arsenal aren’t looking to sell and I do think this has been designed to get the player and representatives to perhaps make some uneasy noises towards the club.

Here’s the thing though – Myles is VERY well represented. We all know about how his mum has been such an influence on his career, how she places high value on mapping a path which is right for him at his age and how she also helps young players and their families in helping to develop careers with their kids. She will be well aware of the situation and I would be surprised if, having just worked with Myles and others to secure a five-year-deal in the summer, she will suddenly be knocking on the door for ‘showdown talks’ on his Arsenal future.

He has an Arsenal future. It will be a bright one. He will find plenty of minutes and now, with a quarter of the season gone, he’s played 463 in all competitions. Last season he made 2,543 in all competitions – 237 of those were in the Premier League 2 and EFL Trophy – which are youth team competitions. So first team minutes last season was around 2,300+. He’s currently on track to hit around 1,850 minutes for the season. That’s probably a little lower than he would have ideally have had, but we haven’t really faced any injury problems at the back so far. We are about to go into a period in which we play A LOT of really tough matches and there’s no way that he doesn’t see more minutes. Myles and his mum will know that.

I also think they’ll be well aware of his trajectory and how in his own career pathway, he’s probably about a year or two ahead of schedule. Last season, because of the injuries, he broke through and I think that was a surprise, because he wasn’t playing at all for the first half of the season. Last season will have been a “see if you can get to 500 – 1,000 minutes in total” season. He made almost triple that. I suspect if all would have gone to plan, this season would have been a “get to between 1,800 to 2,000 minutes” season – which he’s on track for. Then next season would have been a “be a first team regular” – which he’s already on course for. Finally, that “get in to the England team” final step might have been in 2027/28 thing. He was fast-tracked through all of that process in about six months. It’s a massively rapid ascension and that sort of stuff can scupper a career if not managed properly. Emile Smith Rowe made his England debut at 21 years old. He’s played a total of three times and never quite kicked on from the height of his situation back in 2021. Eddie has just the one cap, as does Carl Jenkinson. Making the England squad is not the end game here – making a career is – so trying to search for that admittedly lofty and exciting opportunity does not have to come at the expense of making rash career moves.

For what it’s worth, I doubt anyone at Arsenal or Myles and his camp are worried too much about this. They will know he’s at a club who are fighting towards the top of the league. That comes with competition for places and they will have been well aware of that when they signed the new five-year-deal in the summer. He is an Arsenal boy, he will want to succeed at Arsenal first and foremost, which will also mean he’s more-than likely to also want to give it the best possible shot. At 19 year’s of age he probably has a solid three more World Cup’s after this one as well. He could still get to 100 England caps with ease at this rate. David Beckham was 31 when he got to 100 caps and he made his debut at age 21. Harry Kane too. Steven Gerrard was 20, but he got to 34 before reaching 100 caps. So some of the best England footballers of recent generations didn’t really even kick off their England careers until they were in their 20s. Myles doesn’t hit 20 until next September. So he will be well aware of the fact he has time on his hands.

Where he’s at will be good for him. It will inspire the fight in him, to drive him to improve, which will be good for us if he only gets better and better. He’s already operating at a high level, but if he can go supernova, there isn’t an Arsenal fan alive who wouldn’t be delighted to see another Hale-Ender make it. But he has to put the work in, he has to suffer the sting of not playing, to make him stronger. I think by the sounds of his character that’s exactly what will happen and I for one couldn’t be more happy about that. It means we have yet another winner in our ranks who will do everything to make this season a success for The Arsenal.

I’ll leave it there for today and be back tomorrow. I was going to say some words about this rumoured Italian scout from Napoli that we’re supposedly in for, but perhaps that can wait for tomorrow and i’ll do some digging in the absence of any other real football going on.

See you then.