Gary Lineker saw shades of Lamine Yamal in Max Dowman’s performance against Everton and thinks we’ll gradually see a lot more of the Arsenal starlet in action.
No name has been spoken more than Dowman’s since Saturday night in North London.
The 16-year-old was the architect behind Arsenal’s win over Everton, providing the cross that led to Viktor Gyokeres’ opener before scoring himself.
It wasn’t only Dowman’s history-making goal that turned heads, but his gameplay in general, with Lineker likening one thing the teen did to Yamal at Barcelona.
Which former Arsenal player do you see Max Dowman following the path of?
Gary Lineker compared Max Dowman’s cross against Everton to Lamine Yamal’s style
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast after the Everton win, Lineker compared the cross Dowman put in before Gyokeres’ goal to something Yamal would do.
“He came on. He whipped that kind of Lamine Yamal cross, and Pickford made a rare error, and then that moment was very, very special at the end when Pickford went up for the corner, obviously it broke away.”
Yamal was 16 years and 87 days old when he scored his first goal for Barcelona, with Dowman finding the net for Arsenal at 16 years and 73 days.
How closely do you think Max Dowman will follow in Lamine Yamal’s footsteps?
The Barcelona superstar has since contributed to a further 93 goals for his club, so it’s exciting that Lineker is seeing shades of the 18-year-old in Arsenal’s teenage sensation.
Once Yamal was introduced at Barcelona, the Catalan giants didn’t look back, and the outlook could be the same for Dowman at Arsenal.
Mikel Arteta’s next steps with Max Dowman
When Mikel Arteta was asked if Dowman could be a starter at Arsenal following his first goal, the boss asked for calm.
It’s integral not to get carried away with the 2009-born star’s talent, but it’s equally impossible to ignore just how good he is.
How many Premier League goals will Max Dowman score before he’s 20? 😳
Exceptional.
Lineker thinks that Arteta will fuse both sides of the Dowman predicament to gently ease the 16-year-old closer and closer to being a first-team starter.
“I think he’ll [Arteta] probably keep him [Dowman] on the bench for a bit, probably then start to give him maybe half an hour, then start him, give an hour as they did with Ngumoha at Liverpool.”
Juggling GCSEs and a quadruple fight at Arsenal is unfamiliar territory for any player, but it’s now Dowman’s reality, giving the Gunners a lot to consider amid his remarkable rise.
Arteta won’t get carried away, but after the Everton win, he’ll realise that Dowman has an important role in the remainder of the season, making the immediate future particularly fascinating.
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