11 Aug 2026 17:57:12
For heaven's sake, get Spence! Leave Lewis Skelly well alone!
11 Aug 2026 18:33:53
To be quite honest, mate, I'd rather not sign either of them. Neither of them can defend any better than our own Luke Chambers.
11 Aug 2026 18:50:04
Spence, current England international, with a point to prove, is a big motivation to succeed. Will Chambers be an England international in the future? More likely no than yes. A big improvement on Frimpong, and will Bradley last a full PL season when fit? Hopefully yes, but you still need to have competition for every place in the team, to be successful.
11 Aug 2026 19:00:44
007, being in the England squad only matters when it suits people's agenda. If I used it to argue we should re-sign Quansah or go after Marcus Rashford, I wonder what the reaction would be?
Simple fact is, Spence is not a good player. 4 successive Spurs managers were not impressed by him. He's only got any games out of sheer necessity and now they're more than happy to shift him. And not for financial reasons, but for football reasons. Spurs. He's not wanted by Spurs.
Lewis-Skelly is club trained and Arsenal are actively offering him around other clubs. Although to be fair, that might actually be for financial reasons, because being an academy graduate he would show as a huge profit in their accounts.
Neither are particularly great. I'm slightly more open to signing Lewis-Skelly after learning he is only 19 years old, but he's still not great. Certainly not a good left back, and no better than Nyoni in midfield.
11 Aug 2026 19:03:14
I think Lewis Skelly is a great wee player.
11 Aug 2026 19:05:24
Conor Bradley has only completed 9 full 90 minutes games for Liverpool, I heard the other day.
I would love nothing more than Bradley to be our right back, but I just don't think he will be. I don't think he will ever be able to stay fit and play regularly. I so hope I'm wrong.
11 Aug 2026 19:16:22
Sadly, I agree, Dhfc. It's harsh, but RB should have been a major priority in this window.
11 Aug 2026 19:19:52
Stevie had similar issues and outgrew them. Bradders is only young.
11 Aug 2026 19:24:19
I have absolutely no idea how good Lewis Skelly is, but I'd imagine it's pretty hard to compare him and Nyoni at this stage, considering both are 19 and one has 72 mins of Premier League and CL football and the other one has 3,335 minutes, a PL winners medal, CL runners up medal and 6 international caps.
11 Aug 2026 19:27:56
I wish I had as much confidence in our youngsters as you do, MK.
11 Aug 2026 19:45:38
I love Nyoni, been a cracking little player since he joined the club. But in fairness, Skelly is a bonafide Premier League player whereas we all hope Nyoni one day becomes one.
11 Aug 2026 19:45:52
Rome, I only have confidence in Nyoni, to be honest.
Pointing out that Chambers is probably better defensively than Spence (a failed RWB) and Lewis-Skelly (a failing CM) is not really much to write home about.
I'm not even confident in Rio, as we've produced several wingers down the years who started pretty decent like he has (Ibe, Ojo, K.Gordon, Kent, Wilson etc).
Nyoni is the one. Special talent, in my opinion.
11 Aug 2026 19:51:01
JK23, Just to point out that in 2022 you could've posted exactly the same thing (give or take a few minutes, and plus a few extra Domestic cup winners medals) about 19 year old Harvey Elliott.
It's an impressive CV, but it doesn't equate to actually realising potential.
11 Aug 2026 19:57:14
I've said before in our discussions about Nyoni, that I hope you're right, MK.
Regards to Rio, I agree with you there. He's obviously still a baby, but he's nowhere near ready to be starting regularly.
11 Aug 2026 19:59:58
Mk, I'm just pointing out, comparing them now, mate, with current stats. No idea what the future holds for both.
I do remember a few years ago you tipping Elliot to be a future Balon Dor winner. Come on, own up, you remember it, mate. ?
On a serious note though, my excitement for Nyoni has increased ten fold just from your praise in recent weeks.
11 Aug 2026 20:10:42
Florian Musiala, that bonafide Premier League player, started 5 Premier League games last season. If the media hadn't sold him as the next Ashley Cole 2 years ago, there wouldn't be hardly anyone on here interested in him at £40m.
Even Arsenal have moved on from him, it seems, and he's one of their own.
Rio also started 5 Premier League games last season, by the way. Can I call him a bonafide Premier League player too?
11 Aug 2026 20:21:31
When he broke through at left back, he was getting good reviews, but maybe hasn't sustained it, and Arsenal have continued to reinforce, which has contributed to his limited game time.
We don't need a left back just yet, although Kerkez needs to up his game to convince the doubters and nail down a place.
I don't see Skelly as an answer to our midfield requirements, either.
11 Aug 2026 20:34:24
I remember saying Elliott was too weak for midfield and too slow to play on the wing, JK23. If I did say he'd win a Balon D'or, I must've been drunk that day. ?
{Ed025's Note - you might have meant the Exit Door MK?.. :)
11 Aug 2026 21:04:18
Elliott needs a run of games, same as Chiesa - both very capable players who are short of match fitness, more so than most of squad.
11 Aug 2026 20:58:17
?? fair play you're a good sport Mk.
Hahahaha excellent reply that Ed0025.
12 Aug 2026 00:06:01
Skelly and Spence are the absolute bottom of what we should be looking at in order to progress. Both are at best mediocre football players. There's much much better out there than both of those. Move on.