Mikel Arteta lays out double Arsenal contract priority as Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly face decisions | OneFootball

The Arsenal teenagers will be enter the final year of their current deals this summer

Teenage talent: Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri have shone for Arsenal this season

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Mikel Arteta has stressed the need for Arsenal to tie down academy stars Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly to new contracts this summer.

Arteta has said it is crucial that Arsenal make the pair feel “important” and “valued” as they prepare for contract talks.

Both players are products of Arsenal’s academy and have been with the club since they were eight years old.

And asked how important it is to tie them down, Arteta said: “For sure.

“I mean, if we have to put energy, the most energy we have to put is making sure that the players that we have with us are happy, they feel valued, they feel very much part of what we are doing, they feel important.

Myles Lewis-Skelly has established himself as Arsenal’s first-choice left-back

Arsenal FC via Getty Images

“And then the rest of the necessities, we can look, especially in our academy first and then if we cannot do that, elsewhere.

“Myles has played a lot, and Ethan has played a lot, I think. He started a few days ago against Everton away.

“I mean, this is the Premier League, and we are talking about 17, 18-year-old kids that never played professional football, playing that much football. I’m very happy because they deserve it (to play) and they will continue to play.”

Arsenal take on Brentford on Saturday afternoon, with the game sandwiched in between the two legs of the their Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid.

The Gunners won the first leg 3-0 on Tuesday night and Arteta is expected to make changes for the game at home to the Bees.

But the Spaniard does not expect standards to drop and he wants the momentum from the win over Madrid to be carried forward.

“It’s now maintaining that energy and that momentum and using it towards Brentford and the very difficult game that we’re going to face against a team that, when you look at what they’ve done, it’s just incredible, it’s remarkable, it’s a beautiful story,” said Arteta.

“And they have earned it in the way they work, in the way they are organised, in the way they believe, in the way they play. So, big credit to them and it’s going to be a really tough test for us.”