Mikel Arteta just sent a crystal clear message to Ethan Nwaneri & Myles Lewis-Skelly

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta spelt out the reality of the situation for academy players like Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly in a recent press conference.

Myles Lewis-Skelly has not played nearly as much as he got used to last season, as Arteta now has two great players on the position Lewis-Skelly made his own last night, while the Englishman also saw a drop-off in his own performances.

Similarly, Nwaneri was having trouble finding game time, and chose to move to Marseille for the rest of the season.

A couple of days before their loss to Bournemouth, Arteta was asked about the two players, what it means to play at the club, and what is expected of players regardless of how they were acquired.

Mikel Arteta just sent a crystal clear message to Ethan Nwaneri & Myles Lewis-Skelly

He said: "It's part of us. I think at the end, what it has to define this football club is to seek for the excellence and to seek for the best, regardless of whether you're coming from the academy or from abroad.

"At the end, if we can have players from Hale End, obviously much better because the identity is there. We grow with them, and they know exactly what we're looking for. But then they have to earn it, and not for a week, not for a month, not for years like anybody else.

"It doesn't matter what department or role you have in the club. At the end, you have to sustain performance, and that has to be at the very highest level. If we want to win sustainably, we want to win."

It is tough. The top clubs that achieve as much as they do, almost all of them face this issue. There are some clubs who obviously achieve a lot with academy players, but it is mostly investments from abroad that these clubs rely on.

To have these youngsters come up in the squad that is already stacked with talent across the board, it will be difficult for these youngsters like Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri to keep their place for a long time.

These players would have to achieve a lot more than the others, too, because they not only have to work their way up well enough to be noticed, but also beat the players the club has invested in from abroad to keep their position.

Having that problem will always be difficult for these players, and obviously, for players who have already been there in title run-ins with the squad, it will be tough to see themselves practically forced to take a step back because of different signings and injury returnees.

It will be difficult for these two talented players to get back in the swing of things, but hopefully, they are able to, because they are two supremely talented players.