‘He’s got everything’ – Arsenal academy starlet, 15, will follow Hale End stars into first team this season
The 15-year-old midfielder has yet to make his senior debut for the Gunners, however, there is growing hype surrounding the teenager thanks to his performances for their age group sides.
Dowman has also caught the eye in first-team training with Mikel Arteta’s squad.
As a result, he has been named in the Spaniard’s squad list for their pre-season tour of Asia.
The players have jetted out for friendlies in Singapore and Hong Kong where they’ll face AC Milan, Newcastle and Tottenham.
Dowman as well as fellow 15-year-old Marli Salmon have both been included for the trip but former Gunners winger Perry Groves does not believe their age should hold the pair back.
When asked if it is unfair to thrust them into the first-team already, Groves said on The Sunday Session: “Absolutely not. If you’re good enough, you’re old enough. It’s that simple.
“I don’t care what industry you’re in, age should never hold you back. Just because you say you’re a bit too young, you haven’t got the experience.
“If you don’t give people experiences, they’re never going to be experienced.”
Sharing his thoughts on Dowman, he added: “We’ve talked about Max Dowman.
“I was lucky enough, I’d heard all of the noise around Max Dowman, people telling me at Arsenal and even from the outside, how fantastic he is, ‘what a player this player is going to be’, different level. You think, ‘all right, calm down, he’s 15’.
“I was lucky enough to do Arsenal under-18s against Man United under-18s in the FA Cup semi-final at the end of last season.
“He was 15, playing against 18-year-olds. And there’s a massive difference in development. He was on a different (level), I’d never seen a 15-year-old that good, ever.
“I’ve played with some brilliant young players when I was at Arsenal, players like Paul Merson coming through. Super Kevin Campbell coming through as well at a young age.
“In that under-18s game, he’s playing against the Fletcher twins, Jack and Tyler Fletcher, Darren Fletcher’s two boys, they’re very, very good players at 18.
“He was on three different levels to anybody else on the pitch. He was that good.
“There’s a clip on YouTube, you can say he gets brought down for a penalty, where he picks up the edge of his own box.
“He’s got a low centre of gravity, but he’s got something you can’t teach is when he dribbles, he stops, starts, stops, starts.
“What he does is engages the player, slows down, speeds up, engages. That is something that is born naturally in him. And he’s, I won’t say the best because people say I’m biased, he’s at one of the best clubs to be at to nurture young talent.”
The former Gunners winger also highlighted the pathway into the first-team already shown by Bukayo Saka, Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly.
Groves admitted: “If you think, because Saka coming through, then you mentioned Nwaneri, you see Lewis-Skelly coming through.
“So they have a brilliant program going from Hale End all the way through, not just on your football development and tactics, on your physical development, because you all develop at different stages.
“The players that I mentioned, Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly, Saka, they’re not actually big or tall, but when they’re engaging on the ball, they’ve got upper body strength where they don’t get knocked off the ball.
“You look at Lewis-Skelly, he’s brilliant when he’s back to goal and he turns and he swivels your whole players off, but Saka never gets knocked off the ball.”
Arsenal pre-season tour squad
Defenders – William Saliba, Ben White, Gabriel Magalhaes, Jurrien Timber, Jakub Kiwior, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Riccardo Calafiori, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Josh Nichols, Marli Salmon.
Midfielders – Martin Odegaard, Christian Norgaard, Mikel Merino, Sambi Lokonga, Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice, Louie Copley.
Forwards – Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard, Ethan Nwaneri, Reiss Nelson, Kai Havertz, Ismeal Kabia, Max Dowman, Andre Harriman-Annous.
As for what Dowman can achieve during the upcoming season, he revealed: “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.
“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 had previously been invited into first-team training whilst still just 14 years old.
However, he was prevented from making his Premier League debut last term due to his age.