Wayne Rooney is really shocked by one thing that’s happening at Arsenal early into the 2025/26 campaign.
The Manchester United legend was one of millions to watch Arsenal beat Leeds United 5-0 on matchday two.
It’s been a perfect start to the Premier League season for Mikel Arteta’s side, who will be desperate to keep their maximum points tally intact when facing Liverpool next.
Though it’s still very early in the season, Rooney believes Arsenal can win the title, but overall quality isn’t the only thing the icon has been charmed by.
Wayne Rooney thinks Max Dowman is ‘absolutely crazy’
Rooney hung up his boots in 2021, but the five-time Premier League winner’s legacy goes on.
Rooney’s son, Kai, is a member of Manchester United’s academy, recently playing, and scoring for the U18s, despite being only 15.
Kai’s development had Rooney thinking over the weekend, not just about his son, but about the stark rise of Arsenal’s Max Dowman.
Speaking on The Wayne Rooney Show, the Man United icon reacted to Dowman making his Premier League debut against Leeds.
“Obviously not seen too much of him, but to play at that age in the Premier League… I know I played when I was young, but I think he’s like 150 days younger than I was.
“So I was sat there actually with my son, watching it yesterday, my son is older than him.
“I went to watch Kai yesterday, played for the under 18s, it was yesterday, yeah, and got his first goal for them, which is again, three years above himself, it’s a great achievement.
“Then we’re watching the Arsenal game, and Dowman comes on and Kai’s played against them, and I said, is he your age? He went, yeah, Kai is two months older than him.”
Rooney couldn’t believe that Dowman impressed as he did on his Premier League debut, honing in on the magnitude of the achievement to even get on the pitch.
“I was thinking, it’s absolutely crazy, he’s playing first team football in the Premier League,” he said.
Ironically, Dowman has been compared to Rooney for being so ‘different’ at such a young age, with the future certainly bright for the 15-year-old.
Mikel Arteta has ‘never witnessed’ anything like Dowman
Dowman broke a club record by becoming the first U16 player to make the Arsenal squad in a competitive match at the Emirates.
That seemingly wasn’t enough for the teen, as Dowman then left Arsenal fans in awe with the level of performance he showed against Leeds.
After Arsenal’s win, Arteta admitted that what he’s seeing from the Hale End product is unlike anything he’s ever ‘witnessed’.
“He’s so convinced that he can go at 15 and deliver that, which I have never witnessed in my life,” the Arsenal manager said.
“For us, it brings joy, it brings emotion and something else that makes our jobs so great.”
After seeing what Dowman did in his brief cameo against Leeds, surely, it won’t be long until we get to see more of the 2009-born star in action.
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