Jamie O’Hara has told Arsenal star Myles Lewis-Skelly that he’d be a starter in the Liverpool XI if a sensational January transfer took place.
Lewis-Skelly has played only 87 minutes of Premier League football and has not started a top-flight game for the Gunners so far this season.
The 19-year-old’s lack of game time has seen him lose his spot in the England camp for the country’s games against Serbia and Albania.
England boss Thomas Tuchel has warned Lewis-Skelly that he needs more regular minutes if he is to earn a spot in the squad for the 2026 World Cup.
Following Tuchel’s warning, a number of unnamed Premier League clubs are ‘monitoring’ Lewis-Skelly’s situation ahead of the January window.
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Arsenal are not looking to sell any players in January but if Lewis-Skelly managed to force a move, O’Hara says he would be starting at Liverpool.
While there is currently no indication that Liverpool will make a bid for Lewis-Skelly, O’Hara is adamant that he’d be the club’s starting left-back over Andy Robertson and £40m summer signing Milos Kerkez.
‘I love Robertson, but his performances this season mean they (Liverpool) are probably looking elsewhere,’ O’Hara said on Sky Sports.
‘Kerkez hasn’t been good enough. Lewis-Skelly would start for Liverpool. He doesn’t start for Man City or Arsenal.
‘Outside of that, it’s up for debate. He’d start for most Premier League sides.’
O’Hara added: ‘Lewis-Skelly needs to be playing. I think he is a brilliant footballer. As a future star, he is going to be a [regular] England international.
‘He’s a young kid who had a quick rise to fame last season [but] he’s a hugely talented footballer.’
O’Hara: Lewis-Skelly may ask to leave on loan
O’Hara believes that Lewis-Skelly may ask Mikel Arteta for a loan move if Arsenal refuse to sell him in January.
‘If he genuinely wants to get into that World Cup squad and he needs to play football, he will go and ask Arteta,’ O’Hara continued.
‘He’d say, ‘Look, I want to go out on loan in January, I need to go on loan to another Premier League side and play every week’.’
Speaking exclusively to Metro in September, former Arsenal defender Nigel Winterburn rejected the idea of Lewis-Skelly going out on loan.
‘He won’t go out on loan,’ Winterburn said. ‘There’s no way I could see him going out on loan. With all the competitions Arsenal are in, he’s going to get plenty of game time.’