Mikel Arteta is ready to turn to Arsenal academy starlet Max Dowman and hand the English wonderkid a spot on his first-team bench before the season ends to start bedding him into his senior setup at the Emirates, according to The Daily Mail.
Dowman is the latest Hale End talent on the cusp of Arteta’s squad amid stellar showings at youth level, and the Gunners boss continues to use the club’s academy to bolster his squad. Myles Lewis-Skelly, 18, and Ethan Nwaneri, 17, are now fully established members of the first team at the Emirates after making the step-up over the past year.
Arsenal are renowned for their youth development, and Arteta’s current crop is brimming with teenage talents in all departments, but the Spaniard could do with Dowman’s versatility. The England U17 international excels as an attacking midfielder but can also play on the wing and in a central midfield role.
Max Dowman Could Earn Call Up To Arteta’s Arsenal Senior Squad
The exciting English teenager is on the Gunners boss’ radar
Dowman is knocking on the door of Arsenal’s first-team, and it’s claimed that Arteta is ‘open to the idea’ of the promising English teenager making his first-team bench for a game before the season ends. A similar situation ensued for Nwaneri in September 2022 when he made the bench for the Gunners against Brentford, and he came on and broke the record for the youngest Premier League player at 15 years and 181 days.
Arteta has already had a glimpse of the England U17 international in training, and he’s spoken glowingly about Dowman being ‘very impressive at his age’ and that ‘some of the things he does in training are unbelievable’. Head scout Sean O’Connor echoed those sentiments by describing him as ‘the best player to have walked through the doors at the Hale End academy’.
The club’s decision to fast-track him into Arteta’s first team comes amid an exodus of youth players at the Emirates, with Ayden Heaven becoming the latest to swap North London for Manchester United following Chido Obi-Martin’s move to Old Trafford after the exciting Danish striker joined the Red Devils at the end of last year.
|
Max Dowman Statistics |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Competition |
UEFA Youth League |
Premier League 2 |
U18 PL |
FA Youth Cup |
U18 PL Cup |
National Friendlies (Youth) |
Euro Qualifiers U17 |
|
Games |
4 |
1 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
3 |
|
Minutes |
317 |
6 |
510 |
180 |
176 |
249 |
193 |
|
Goals |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
|
Assists |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Arsenal’s higher-ups ‘want to show upcoming talent a pathway to the first team’ —Dowman, who turned 15 in December but is showing massive potential for the Gunners’ youth teams, bagging five goals and seven assists in 15 games across competitions for the U18s. He’s an exciting English attacker who became the club’s youngest representative at U21 level by turning out for the team a month before his 15th birthday.
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Arsenal have a number of academy stars coming through, including teenage midfield duo Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly.