Myles Lewis-Skelly said he was “lost for words” after becoming England’s youngest debutant scorer during Friday’s World Cup qualifying victory over Albania.
The Arsenal teenager scored 20 minutes into his first senior appearance for his country, aged 18 years and 176 days.
Lewis-Skelly surpassed the previous record set by international team-mate Marcus Rashford, who was 18 years and 209 days old when he scored on his England debut against Australia in May 2016 (via Opta). He also becomes England’s third-youngest scorer of all time, behind only Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen.
“I’m lost for words really,” he told ITV Sport. “I’m just so grateful for the manager to put trust in me and my team-mates played with great trust in me. I’m so happy, I’m lost for words.”
Handed a start at left-back by new head coach Thomas Tuchel in his first game in charge, Lewis-Skelly opened the scoring at Wembley after latching onto Jude Bellingham’s pass and sending the ball through the legs of Albania goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha with his first touch.
It’s turning out to be quite the evening for Myles Lewis-Skelly, who scores on his England debut.#ENGALB
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— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) March 21, 2025
Harry Kane added a second for England 13 minutes from time as Tuchel’s reign got off to a winning start.
Typically a midfielder, Lewis-Skelly has broken into the Arsenal team as a left-back this season and is enjoying a breakthrough campaign. He has featured 26 times in all competitions since making his senior debut in September.
Declan Rice, a team-mate at both England and Arsenal, said Lewis-Skelly’s international debut was “only the start”.
“He’s fearless, he does everything right off the pitch,” Rice said. “He prepares himself. He’s only 18, I try to look after him as best I can but I knew he was going to play like that tonight because of the confidence he has in himself and the way he’s trained all week and what I’ve seen at the club, how he around the club.
“His mum, his dad, his brothers, everyone should be so proud of him because his rise this year’s been unreal and he’s kept his feet on the ground. This is only the start for him.”
Tuchel added: “An amazing player, an amazing personality. He came into camp and showed straight away that it’s so normal to fall in love with him. A top player, amazing character, and it’s well deserved.”
England return to action against Latvia on Monday.
(Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
