I helped turn Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly into Arsenal stars with my unconventional youth coaching methods

DAN MICCICHE played a key role in developing Arsenal talents Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly using some unique methods.

The experienced youth coach was previously England Under-16s boss where he worked with Cole Palmer, Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho, to name just a few.

5 Dan Micciche is Player Development Lead Coach in the Premier League Credit: Getty Images - Getty

5 Micciche, left, helped Phil Foden, Jadon Sancho and Marc Guehi become stars

5 He also helped nurture Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri Credit: Getty

He has since worked at Arsenal, where he nurtured the talent of Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly, helping the former to create history by becoming the youngest player to make his debut in the Premier League.

Micciche, 45, worked as Arsenal U15s boss for three years before moving on to the U18s for the 2021-22 campaign, and he is not surprised to see that pair now in the first-team given their focus as teenagers.

Both Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly have slotted seamlessly into the first-team - the end product of a long journey that is as much about developing the person as the player.

Micciche knows better than most the importance of coaching every aspect of a player, and while they have to be technically excellent to handle first-team training, their physicality and education is equally important.

Micciche told SunSport: "You've got to be careful not to specialise them too early. One, it is important they play other sports, in particular ones that transfer into football, but secondly positionally as well.

"The more they can, for physical literacy, utilise other sports in a controlled manner, the better.

"[Take] yoga and gymnastics. Gymnastics is brilliant for non-weight bearing, flexibility and suppleness and discipline as well. What a lot of these sports often test in individuals is being disciplined.

"So it's important that we keep an open mind in football to what benefits we can get from other sports that can then transfer across."

Education on and off the pitch can be crucial for a young player to succeed.

But rather than bombard budding footballers with instructions and rules, Micciche likes to place his trust in his players and allow them to come up with their own strategies, either as a group or individually.

Former Arsenal coach Dan Micciche explains the hidden challenges with youth footballers

He continued: "Their education is very important to making sure that you are developing the whole person and not just the footballer, and giving them a lot of variety, because if you want good decision makers and problem solvers, they have got to be able to think independently rather than be controlled by a coach.

"You need them to be outstanding decision-makers, so you develop that by one, creating an environment that allows them to make decisions and two, giving them a lot of variety, in terms of competition, game formats, systems of play, etc.

"Because the variety gives them different problems to solve, and that's the game as well. They're going to come up in their career against different types of opponents and different systems.

It's about giving more ownership and responsibility to the players Dan Micciche

"And they got to be able to deal with that and they have got to be able to recognise what they are up against and how to get the better of their direct opponent.

"So if he is quicker than them, how are they going to outwit them, how are they going to make up for the fact they are not as quick as their direct opponent, how are they going to overcome that?

"Leadership is a big one as well. We often hear people say 'we've got no leaders anymore, we've got no characters anymore'.

"And obviously, society has changed and they have got a lot more distractions now than back in the day, but you can still do so many things to develop those leadership qualities and that is sort of taking the control away from the coach and giving more ownership and responsibility to the players."

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Micciche practices what he preaches and his methods helped him win the Nike International Tournament Cup with a side containing future England stars Marc Guehi, Angel Gomes, Emile Smith Rowe, as well as Foden and Sancho.

A lot of the success was down to his players, not just because of their talent but the fact they led meetings and sessions thanks to Micciche's encouragement.

Liverpool star Curtis Jones once came up with a corner routine inspired by Philippe Couthino on the training pitches at Melwood.

Jones ended up scoring from a corner in a match for England, leading it to be called the "Curtinho".

Delivering on the pitch has helped the likes of Jones, Foden and Palmer break into their respective teams and represent England at major tournaments.

Top 20 players Dan Micciche has coached Phil Foden Cole Palmer Jadon Sancho Marc Guehi Curtis Jones Angel Gomes Emile Smith Rowe Morgan Gibbs-White Calum Hudson-Odoi Ethan Nwaneri Myles Lewis-Skelly Trevoh Chalobah Matt O'Riley Ryan Sessegnon Oliver Skipp Omari Hutchinson Rhian Brewster Bali Mumba Charlie Patino Ethan Ampadu

Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly could be the next in line for Thomas Tuchel's side after breaking through this season, having also stood out with big moments in their youth careers.

Asked what made them catch his eye, Micciche said: "Those two are technically outstanding. He's (Mikel Arteta) had them over there since a very young age. He knew about them when they were 14.

"First of all it was their focus to play football. They're great lads but when it is time to train and play they were always 100 per cent focused and committed to what they are doing.

"There was never at any time an issue of them lacking focus or that willingness to improve, their mentality was incredible, although they ticked all the boxes.

"Technically outstanding, physically they were efficient movers, their football athleticism was good.

"They delivered when it counts. They won a lot of youth tournaments together, when it came to semi-finals and finals they would deliver that.

"They would score goals, they would create goals, they would dominate games. That's what the best players do, they deliver in big moments and that's what they did."

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