‘Arsenal wonderkid Max Dowman backed to complete incredible feat’
Arsenal youngster Max Dowman has been incredibly backed to break into the first team this season.
The attacking midfielder is just 15 years old and doesn’t turn 16 until December, but boasts a phenomenal record at youth level, registering 20 goals and 10 assists in 25 appearances for Arsenal‘s U18s so far.
Dowman has also caught the eye on the international stage, with five goals and four assists in 21 caps for England’s U16s and U17s combined.
Those efforts have been rewarded with a spot in Arsenal’s squad for their pre-season tour of Asia, where they’ll partake in high-profile friendlies against AC Milan, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur.
Max Dowman tipped as future ‘elite’ Arsenal star
Asking Dowman to become a key member of the Gunners’ first team is obviously too much at this age.
However, Mikel Arteta is not scared to blood players at a very young age, giving Ethan Nwaneri his Premier League debut at just 15 years and 181 days old.
Former Arsenal forward Perry Groves — who won two league titles and a League Cup with the Gunners between 1987 and 1992 — has backed Dowman to get some senior minutes this season and believes only a freak injury or poor attitude can stop him reaching the very highest level.
| Arsenal U18 stats | Max Dowman |
| Appearances | 25 |
| Goals | 20 |
| Assists | 10 |
“The only thing that stops Max Dowman from getting to what I would say the elite level and in Arsenal’s first team, it’d be one of two things,” Groves told talkSPORT (20 July, 18:31).
“Either he gets a bad injury, or it will be his attitude because he has everything.
“I know I hadn’t seen a player that good at 15, and obviously going away with the first team, he’ll be integrated there, then he’ll come out, he’ll play for the under-21s, then he’ll come out, then you can bet your life in the Carabao Cup.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he develops on the path that they think he’s going to do, that he’ll be on the bench for Arsenal in the next probably three or four months.”
Dowman makes Asia tour, but Noni Madueke misses out
While Dowman is an eye-catching inclusion on Arsenal’s Asian tour, Noni Madueke didn’t make the plane.
The England international cut short his holiday to complete a move to the Emirates from Chelsea, joining Kepa Arrizabalaga as the second player to make such a transfer this summer.
Madueke and Kepa enter an ever-increasing line of players to switch Chelsea for Arsenal, with the list including the likes of Raheem Sterling, Petr Cech, Willian, Kai Havertz and Jorginho.
It’s thought Madueke was keen to join Arsenal on their tour and immediately start making an impression on Arteta.
However, Arsenal have urged the player to ‘get some rest’ to ensure he is ‘recharged and mentally fresh’ for the 2025/26 campaign — in which the Gunners are hellbent on winning their first Premier League title since 2004.
Madueke might well need the recuperation period after his exploits in Chelsea’s triumphant Club World Cup campaign.
But Dowman, meanwhile, will be relishing the chance to rub shoulders with Arteta’s senior squad having already trained with them on numerous occasions.