Every Arsenal fan out there knows that we have a special talent on our hands when it comes to Max Dowman.
Having turned 16 at the end of last year, Dowman is still in the infancy of his career as a footballer but we’ve already seen enough to know that Arsenal have a serious player.
Mikel Arteta has already given Dowman Premier League minutes. Remarkably, he hasn’t looked out of place either, lighting up The Emirates when he played more than 25 minutes against Leeds back in August.
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Since then, an ankle injury has robbed Dowman of many more opportunities.
But according to Arsenal legend Ray Parlour, the Gunners have got something special.
Ray Parlour shares why he was blown away by Max Dowman
Doing the business in pre-season and then doing it in the Premier League or Champions League are completely different things.
However, Arsenal’s pre-season schedule is always semi-competitive at least and in the summer, we saw Dowman very much holding his own against top players.
In fact, Parlour told TalkSport earlier that when he watched Dowman last summer, he actually dominated against and experienced AC Milan midfield.
“Unbelievable talent. Again, he’s got to keep his feet on the ground, work hard. but the way he’s improved, has been unbelievable,” Parlour commented.
“I mean I was very lucky to go preseason to Singapore and he played against AC Milan and he was playing against a 28 year old and unbelievably he ran the show and he’s 15 years old then 15 and a half so, a real talent. I really hope he does well. He’s obviously he’s got a great family around him so that’s going to be very important going forward.
“Just keep improving like he is and I know Arsenal think so much of him. And, obviously to get game gametime already at he’s a young age obviously, he’s going to be a massive a massive player in the future”
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What next for Max Dowman as an Arsenal player?
Naturally with a young player, it’s easy to get carried away but we’ve seen with Ethan Nwaneri recently that things can sometimes ebb and flow.
Nwaneri has sealed a great loan move to Marseille and he should get plenty of chances to excel in France.
For Dowman, the next logical step for him would also appear to be some sort of loan move. Arsenal are obviously careful about exposing young players to the wrong environments so they’ll need to pick Dowman’s landing spot carefully.
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On the flip side of that, Mikel Arteta might have already seen enough to keep Dowman as a regular in his squad.
And with increased talk of Martin Odegaard moving on, coupled with his downturn in form, Dowman might actually see a spot in the squad open up.
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