Max Dowman is the man of the moment in terms of young talent in the Premier League and Rio Ferdinand has given his advice to Mikel Arteta.
Ferdinand played with and against some of the best young players in the world and had first hand experience of seeing Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo break through.
However, while those players had superb careers, others like Jack Wilshere suffered due to other reasons and Ferdinand believes Mikel Arteta can prevent similar with Dowman.
16-year-old Max Dowman was Arsenal’s best player vs Southampton. Is that good news or should the other players be embarrassed?
Rio Ferdinand makes Lamine Yamal point in giving advice about Max Dowman
As mentioned, Ferdinand has seen some of the top talents in Europe come and go.
He is a big fan of Dowman already but when discussing him, Ferdinand believes Mikel Arteta has to play the teenager out wide.
“Max Dowman could be the biggest factor in Arsenal winning the league from now on. But I want to see him protected from now on, and this is how I want to see Mikel Arteta do that,” Ferdinand commented.
“Lamine Yamal, Neymar, Cristiano, Henry, all played out wide early in their career. Why? To protect them.
“Play them out wide where there’s a bit less contact and you can see the game a bit more, the game’s a bit slower out there as well. Allow him the freedom to drift in but starting in there can be a big hindrance for a young player. I don’t want to see him become a Wilshere.
“Wilshere coached him and spoke greatly about him but I don’t want to see him become that and be involved in far too many collisions in the middle of the park early in his career. Plus…I definitely think he should go to the World Cup.”
What Gabriel Jesus recently said about Max Dowman’s talent
Dowman showed against Southampton that he has it in the locker to be a key figure for Arsenal between now and the end of the season and it will be interesting to see if Thomas Tuchel takes note.
Nevertheless, he’s clearly a top talent and teammate Gabriel Jesus has lauded him as well.
“He’s very very good on the ball. Very good. To take the ball off him is hard,” Jesus said to Rio Ferdinand.
“He can play wide or through the middle. So that’s a good sign. He is so strong as well, very strong.
“I think he’s a ‘proper English player’. Like let’s say Jack [Grealish]. He’s strong, and good on the ball and also, he’s a killer in training. Like Ethan [Nwaneri] as well. Killers.”
Dowman, if he does play and contribute, can write his name into Arsenal history early if they do win the league.
If not, and he doesn’t feature, then Mikel Arteta will have to answer questions on just why he didn’t pick the teenager.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
