What's really going on with Myles Lewis-Skelly: Why Arsenal may be forced to sell 19-year-old England star - and why £45m would be nowhere near enough

Myles Lewis-Skelly's Arsenal future depends on key factors including compliance with UEFA spending rules and the ability to further strengthen the Premier League champions' squad, Daily Mail Sport understands.

Gunners fans were left stunned yesterday when it was reported that the club had invited offers for the 19-year-old academy product from Chelsea and Manchester United.

Arsenal have insisted that was not the case, however, an intermediary is believed to have told both clubs that the player would be available at the right price.

Sources have also disclosed that one of the main drivers behind the situation is UEFA’s rules on spending, which operate by the calendar year rather than season by season. That means that the summer window is the last opportunity to bring transfer revenue in, should it be needed. It is also the last chance to ship players out should you need to do so to facilitate more new arrivals.

A potential fee of £45million has been touted for Lewis-Skelly, who started in the Champions League final, however those with knowledge of the situation believe that the price would need to be considerably higher to convince Arsenal to sell.

Because Lewis-Skelly is a product of the club’s academy, any money received would be seen as ‘pure profit’ and come as a significant boost to the balance sheet. That element of the rules has seen other clubs reluctantly sell some of their prized, homegrown assets, to ensure compliance, such as Newcastle’s offloading of Elliot Anderson to Nottingham Forest in July 2024 (although that was to comply with Premier League rather than UEFA rules).

Arsenal fans were left stunned yesterday when it was reported that the club had invited offers for Myles Lewis-Skelly from Chelsea and Manchester United

United are in the market for a left back and are monitoring the situation

Arsenal have options. There are a number of players who are viewed as unlikely to play this season and, in a perfect world, they would depart ahead of Lewis-Skelly, who is liked by both Mikel Arteta and the club’s fans. It would not be a surprise to see Reiss Nelson and Gabriel Jesus, for example, leave the club this month.

However, the closer Arsenal get to deadline day on September 1 without others leaving, the more the likelihood of Lewis-Skelly departing increases.

As for interested parties, United are in the market for a left back and are monitoring the situation. Chelsea have completed a £16million deal for Spanish left back Pep Chavarria from Rayo Vallecano but Lewis-Skelly may well be an intriguing prospect.

Earlier this month, Arsenal signed Bruno Guimaraes from Newcastle for a fee of around £75million. In June, they also took the option to turn Piero Hincapie’s loan move from Bayer Leverkusen into a permanent transfer at a cost of £34.5million. They also paid £34million for Club Bruges forward Christos Tzolis, while last summer they spent around £250million on eight new players.

A spike in commercial activity and prize money from the Premier League title and run to last season’s Champions League final will have helped their position, although player bonuses have taken a sizeable chunk out of the coffers.

With regards to outgoings, the Premier League winners have brought in around £41million from the departures of Leandro Trossard, Jakub Kiwior and Christian Norgaard.