If everything goes to how Arsenal have planned it, there’s a good chance Max Dowman would be talked about in the same breath as Lamine Yamal in the next couple of years. Dowman, 15, is one of Europe’s
most promising talents and tipped to be the biggest prodigy of English football.
On Wednesday night, he was named in the first 11 against Brighton & Hove Albion in the 2-0 League Cup win, becoming the youngest-ever (15 years, 302 days) to start for a Premier League club across competitions. He dazzled Brighton defenders and the Gunners’ fans at the Emirates Stadium alike with his skills on the right-wing, showing off his slick touch, speed, physicality and genuine smarts with the ball against a strong team.
Who is Max Dowman?
Born in December 2009 in Chelmsford, Dowman is an attacking midfielder by trade but has made a ton of appearances on the right wing, while also featuring in almost every other outfield role, too.
He has been fast-tracked through Arsenal’s academy, the Hale End, after dazzling at every level, playing under-18 football at 13 and becoming the UEFA Youth League’s youngest-ever scorer at 14. By 14, he had already featured for the club’s U21s and joined Mikel Arteta’s first-team training soon after, following footsteps of Myles-Lewis Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri and Bukayo Saka before them.
This summer, Dowman impressed in friendlies against Milan and Newcastle, showcasing flair, vision, and maturity well beyond his years. That earned him a debut against Leeds United earlier this year (second youngest to do it after Nwaneri) and one of his first actions was winning a penalty for his team.
He comes from a family of boyhood Arsenal fans and has reportedly signed scholorship terms with the club, rejecting several offers from all the biggest teams in Europe and beyond.
Mikel Arteta on Max Dowman: ‘For him, everything is natural’
Arteta has always been full of praise about Dowman, in slight contrast to how he initially seemed to protect Nwaneri and even Saka. But, crucially, apart from his obvious flair, the manager has always praised Dowman’s humility.
“A tiny smile, that’s what you get with him,” said Arteta when asked how the teenager reacted when told he was starting. “For him everything is natural, for him everything is OK. It’s the way he plays and that’s the secret, that he doesn’t make a big fuss of it. He just does what he does best, which is to play football. To play football with a lot of courage and determination and today again, he has shown some incredible skill, some capacity to run past players at that level in the Premier League at 15. It’s definitely something special.”
