Max Dowman says he was starstruck by two Arsenal players when he first trained with Mikel Arteta’s squad

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Max Dowman is the latest talent developing through Arsenal’s Hale End academy who looks set to break through into Mikel Arteta’s team.

The likes of Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri have enjoyed meteoric rises in the last 12 months for the Gunners, and Arteta will be keen to unearth another gem in the upcoming season.

Dowman is making waves in pre-season, impressing in his cameo performances against AC Milan and Newcastle.

The youngster will only turn 16 in December, and thus expectations about his prominence in the senior side next campaign must be tempered somewhat, but the player’s potential is certainly frightening.

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Max Dowman says he was starstruck by William Saliba and Declan Rice when he first trained with Arsenal

Dowman first trained with the Arsenal first team at the age of 14.

A staggering feat for a player of that age, there is excitement within the North London club that they may have a generational talent on their hands.

That said, Ashley Cole has warned fans to remain calm about Dowman, with the former Arsenal left-back eager for the starlet not to feel the burden of expectations placed upon him at such a young age.

Cole’s point has certainly been reinforced by one of the first interviews that has surfaced with Dowman, which was released on the FootballEscapes Instagram account this week.

Speaking about his development with the academy, the prospect produced a wholesome response when asked who he was starstruck by in the Arsenal squad when he first trained with them, which served as a reminder as to just how early he is in his career.

“I’d say [William] Saliba or Declan Rice, I’d say,” Dowman said.

“Just the way they played, how composed they were. How they carried themselves in training.”

What Max Dowman said about first training with the Arsenal senior team

Declan Rice was impressed with Dowman himself after the 15-year-old’s extraordinary cameo against Newcastle.

The Hale Ender will hope to be given further opportunities to flaunt his skills to Arteta in the coming weeks.

While these chances could be few and far between once the season starts, there’s no doubt that Dowman will continue training with the first team regularly as he develops.

Speaking to FootballEscapes, Dowman broke down the experience of training with the first team on the first two occasions he was granted this opportunity.

“So I was just training with the under-18s at the time, and the 21s the other time,” he said.

“Then, you sort of just get pulled over, midway through. You’ll just be doing the warm-up, and then you’ll get told to come over. Whatever they want you to do, you’ll do. The first time we were just defending and I just felt like a moving mannequin.

“I wasn’t really involving myself that well because I was just defending. The second time we did attack v defence, I got myself more involved and I did a lot better than the first time, so it was just really enjoyable, really surreal for me to be honest.”