Mikel Arteta has revealed how Per Mertesacker first made him aware of Max Dowman’s talent, with the 15-year-old now a regular in the first-team squad.
Max Dowman is likely to receive his second call-up to the Arsenal first-team squad for a Champions League game on Wednesday night, and he’ll hope that this one brings his debut in the competition.
Dowman has featured in the Arsenal squad for six of the team’s eight matches in 2025/26, only missing the Manchester United and Manchester City games.
Even then, there were good reasons why. Dowman was unavailable against United as Arsenal needed to give the teenager a break, after his involvement in the u17 Euros and Arsenal’s pre-season over the summer. Then he missed the City game so he could build up his minutes in an u21 match.
Speaking on Tuesday, Mikel Arteta insisted that Dowman is very much a part of the senior squad now, saying: “He’s fully with us, he’s part of us, he trains with us, and he’s got the same chances as anybody else.”
This first-team promotion is the culmination of a couple of years of development, ever since Arsenal academy manager Per Mertesacker first brought Dowman to Arteta’s attention.
“The first conversation was probably with Per [Mertesacker],” Arteta recalled. “We were talking about the talent and what he could see and feel that could reach the level that we needed.
“Straight away, [Dowman’s] name came up, and then we started to look at him. The way he’s developed himself, and the steps that he’s taken, and the speed he’s taken them, it’s probably unheard of.”
Despite being part of the squad on six occasions so far, Dowman has played limited minutes on the pitch, coming on against Leeds, Liverpool, and Port Vale for a total of just under an hour of football.
The 15-year-old won a penalty in the Leeds match, but he’s still waiting to grab a goal or assist for the Gunners.
Yet Dowman is so young that even if it takes him all season, a Premier League or Champions League goal in May would still make him the respective competition’s youngest-ever scorer.
Sadly the same wouldn’t be true in the FA Cup, with Arsenal not due to play in the competition until a few days after Dowman turns 16. Finn Smith set the record for the youngest goalscorer aged 16 and one day in 2022, so even if Dowman scores in the third round he’d narrowly miss out.
For the sake of completion, Dowman could become the youngest scorer in League Cup history if he scores in any round before the final this season. By the time the final comes around, it would be too late.
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