Arsenal are incredibly short in forward areas, and Mikel Arteta is subsequently exploring all viable options to alleviate this issue.
Kai Havertz is out for the season after sustaining a hamstring injury during the Gunners’ warm weather training camp in Dubai this week.
The German joins an extensive list of absentees at the Emirates, which includes the likes of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus.
Arteta has just Leandro Trossard, Raheem Sterling and Ethan Nwaneri available to him, with the trio likely to have to play almost every single minute in the next month or so.
However, the Arsenal boss is desperately working to find further internal options, and may make a special request to allow him to field a Hale End Academy player.
Arsenal could request special dispensation to use Max Dowman
Max Dowman is the name on everybody’s lips around London Colney, with the 15-year-old sensation taking youth football by storm, which has prompted Arteta to call him up to first team training.
Dowman was brought to Dubai, and thus would’ve had the opportunity to stake a claim to be granted senior minutes next season.
However, this process could now be fast-tracked due to the injury predicament Arsenal find themselves in.
Premier League rules state that any player named in an age group’s squad at under 16 level or below cannot feature in the English top flight that season.
The Gunners wonderkid was registered as part of the Arsenal under-15s at the beginning of the 2024/25 campaign, meaning he’s not allowed to play in the Premier League this term.
A fresh twist in this saga may have changed this, as the Daily Mail report that Arsenal may have the opportunity to request special dispensation to use Dowman, hoping that their injury crisis will prove to be a valid reason for the rule to be altered on this occasion.
However, it’s not clear whether the Premier League would sanction this request.
- READ MORE: Who is Max Dowman? Meet the Arsenal wonderkid who has broken records and impressed Mikel Arteta
Would Max Dowman make a difference for Arsenal this season?
With options so sparse up front, any additional body would be helpful to Arteta.
However, having to rely on a 15-year-old to play regularly when you’re chasing major honours is far from ideal.
Having said that, Arteta waxed lyrical about Dowman recently, and those involved with the academy believe the creative midfielder to be one of the brightest prospects in the country.
His effortless ability to glide past players and his supreme technical quality in the final third could well translate to senior football immediately.
Arteta’s preference would no doubt be to slowly integrate the starlet into the first team picture, like he’s done with the likes of Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly, although desperate times call for desperate measures.
Arsenal are in need of another option in their attacking cohort, and Dowman may well be better than every other academy prospect that is flirting with the possibility of being blooded in this time of crisis.
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