Rice hails Lewis-Skelly: ‘Like he was built in a lab’​​

Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice has heaped praise on his “very special” teammate Myles Lewis-Skelly, insisting the youngster can go the very top.

Lewis-Skelly, a midfielder as an Arsenal youth prospect, has broken into the first team as a left-back this season and has started the last three Premier League games, with an impressed Mikel Arteta favouring him over more experienced options.

England international Rice said it was “ridiculous” how good the 18-year-old already is.

“He can go to the top, this kid is just special, very special,” Rice told the Arsenal website. “For an 18-year-old to be that good, that comfortable, that strong — it was like he was built in a lab!

“I said that to him the other day, it’s just ridiculous how good he is, but he has a long way to go. He’s so level-headed, he’s got a great family around him, I know his mum looks after him really well and all the boys at the training ground do too.

“We have a really good crop of youngsters coming through and he can be what he wants to be, he just needs to stay focused and always want more and he can do that.”

Lewis-Skelly is one of two teenage Hale End products to have been given regular minutes by Arteta this season, with Ethan Nwaneri also catching the eye in midfield.

After Friday’s 1-0 victory against Ipswich that lifted Arsenal to second in the Premier League, Arteta said of Lewis-Skelly: “He is a special character. He is well ahead of his age and then he has qualities where he adapts to the way that we are playing. Credit to him.”