Like most 19-year-olds, Myles Lewis-Skelly is chronically online.
It's a deduction made on the basis of social-media activity during Arsenal's title celebrations last season. In the minutes after Manchester City's fateful draw to Bournemouth, Bukayo Saka posted a video of Lewis-Skelly clapping back at the online trolling over Arsenal's reputation as 'bottlers,' all the while holding a champagne bottle as a prop.
On Arsenal's day of coronation at Selhurst Park, Lewis-Skelly posted a picture of him with the Premier League trophy and captioned it 'Pure profit.' It was an unsubtle dig at those who had called for his sale earlier in the season due to the financial upside. The sale of academy graduates like Lewis-Skelly can be booked entirely as profit, however it's worth noting that per the Premier League's Squad Cost Ratio (SCR) rules, it would be spread out across three years.
Lewis-Skelly's redemption arc was one of the stories of last season. After spending most of the year on the fringes, he was thrown into the starting lineup for the sharp end of Arsenal's campaign. He made his first Premier League start in May and proceeded to dislodge Martín Zubimendi from the XI for the title run-in. He started the Champions League semifinal second-leg against Atlético Madrid and was one of Arsenal's best performers in the final against Paris Saint-Germain.
Lewis-Skelly's 'pure profit' post remains pinned to the top of his Instagram profile. But in an ironic twist of fate, the conversations around him being an accounting asset have resurfaced ahead of the new season. It was triggered by the arrival of Bruno Guimarães from Newcastle United for £75 million this summer.
Too many cooks spoil the broth. As do too many midfielders.
There have been reports this week about the 19-year-old being offered to Manchester United and Chelsea, and the frenzy around his future has clearly reached him. After scoring Arsenal's opener in their preseason game against Como at the Emirates Stadium, he made a pointed heart gesture towards the home supporters and appeared visibly emotional.
"He's a very emotional player, you see with his gestures on the pitch. I'm not going to talk about speculation -- if there is speculation about our players, it's a good sign -- that means our players attract attention and are doing a good job," Mikel Arteta said about him post-match.
Lewis-Skelly has started each of Arsenal's four preseason games and with Declan Rice and Guimarães still working their way back to full fitness, he is likely to start in the Community Shield against Manchester City.
The Community Shield is a weird fixture where the result's significance becomes clear only with a dollop of hindsight. Think Liverpool's loss to Crystal Palace last year and how later it was viewed as the first signs of cracks in Arne Slot's regime. Or in cases like Man City's win over Man United in 2024, it can be taken to mean nothing at all. Since 2007, the winner of the Community Shield has won the Premier League only six times.
But, there is silverware on offer in Cardiff this Sunday and as Viktor Gyökeres so emphatically said, Arsenal aren't viewing it as a friendly. For Lewis-Skelly, the stakes feel slightly higher given the surrounding context. By no means is he fighting for his future but a strong showing against City will help quieten the transfer noise. As he did last season, it will serve as a timely reminder that his value lies on the pitch and not in the balance sheet.
City have been occupied by their own midfield transfer dilemmas in the lead up to Sunday's match. Barcelona's pursuit of Rodri has gone up a notch in the past week but City remain firm in their £60 million valuation for the 30-year-old.
Towards the end of the season, City would likely have been more receptive to offers below that amount. Rodri endured another injury-blighted campaign and made just 17 starts in the Premier League. It felt like the player he was prior to his ACL injury had been lost forever.
But as Pep Guardiola predicted in October last year, the best of Rodri was seen at the World Cup. The Spain captain looked back to being the player that won the Ballon D'Or in 2024 and was especially imperious in the semifinal and final.
There has been a pattern of players with ACL injuries having a belated second-coming in the latter half of their careers. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Virgil van Dijk and Alexia Putellas are just a few names on this list. Rodri, too, appears to be entering this stage of his career where his body and mind have found re-alignment.
Having so patiently aided his recovery over the last two years, City are understandably reluctant to part ways when he has come through the abyss. This is despite having future-proofed themselves with the signing of Elliot Anderson for a club-record fee from Nottingham Forest.
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City's interest in Enzo Fernández is an added matter of intrigue. Allowing Rodri to join Barcelona and replacing him with one of his former players would feel like Enzo Maresca drawing a line in the sand to the Guardiola era.
For the time being however, none of Fernández, Rodri or Anderson are likely to feature for City in the Community Shield. The latter two have only returned to training this week after their World Cup exertions. With Tijjani Reijnders also edging closer to an exit, City are likely to start with Mateo Kovacic and Nico González in midfield.
The Community Shield has been the traditional curtain-raiser for the football season for almost 70 years. The 2026 edition feels like the start of a new era. An era where Arsenal are the dominant team in the land and Man City are no longer being orchestrated by Guardiola. Both these teams enter this new phase with their midfields in varying degrees of flux.