Inside Arsenal's plan to nurture Max Dowman's ‘unreal’ talent

Football

Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice playing key roles as Arsenal bid to help 15-year-old sensation fulfil his potential

It was around two years ago that Mikel Arteta became aware of Max Dowman and the talent Arsenal had on their hands.

Arteta was having a conversation with the club’s academy manager Per Mertesacker about the next wave of players coming through when Dowman’s name quickly came up.

Only 13 at the time, Dowman was already featuring for Arsenal’s Under-18 side. Within a year he was training with the first team and, in August, he made his senior debut at just 15.

“The way he’s developed himself, and the steps that he’s taken, and the speed he’s taken them, it’s probably unheard of,” said the Arsenal boss. “He’s fully with us, he’s part of us, he trains with us, and he’s got the same chances as anyone.”

Since that debut against Leeds, Dowman has played twice more - even coming off the bench at Anfield against Premier League champions Liverpool.

Dowman has everyone at Arsenal excited

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There is a wider belief in football that the game is getting younger, with players breaking through earlier than ever.

Even so, Dowman’s rise is extraordinary - and all the more striking given he will not sit his GCSEs until next summer.

The challenge for Arsenal is to nurture such a prospect when the spotlight is greater than ever thanks to social media.

Arteta has shown himself adept at that, developing fellow academy graduates Bukayo Saka, Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly.

Now, he will aim to do the same with Dowman.

On fast track

The wider world is now sitting up and taking notice of Dowman, but there has been a buzz about him at Arsenal for years.

The teenager has progressed through the club’s academy at a rapid rate and, aged just 13, he became the youngest player to feature for Arsenal’s Under-18s, handed his debut by Jack Wilshere.

A year later, Dowman was playing for the Under-21s and he also set another record as the youngest scorer in the UEFA Youth League.

It has been a similar story with England. Dowman played for the Under-17s at the European Championship in the summer, but has already been fast-tracked to the Under-19s.

“I knew about Max and I hadn’t even seen him,” Temisan Williams, who coached Dowman when he was with Arsenal’s Under-12s, told Standard Sport. “He was with the Under-10s and they were already talking about him, so I was looking forward to coaching him.

“The next year I saw him and it was like: ‘Ah, OK, I get it now! I get why we are so excited about him.’ When you saw him in certain games, it was a little bit like a cheat code at times!”

Williams, who also worked at Fulham, Southend and Tottenham’s academies before setting up his own business, describes Dowman as “a very teachable player” with a hunger to learn.

Mikel Arteta has described Dowman as a ‘big, big talent’

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His composure in possession stood out, with Dowman excelling as a No 6 or No 10. Occasionally he was deployed in different positions to stretch his development.

“There were times when we actually put him in as a centre-back,” said Williams. “He could get on the ball, but then he would also be able to test his defensive work. It presented a different challenge.”

Despite those stints at centre-back, Williams estimates Dowman still finished that season with 30 to 40 goals - and a similar number of assists.

“Even though he was playing with boys a year older, he always wanted the ball,” said Williams. “He wanted to go at players and he wasn’t taking short, small touches - it would be those slightly bigger touches, eating up the ground.”

Last season, in the Under-18 Premier League, he covered 6,819m carrying the ball - the highest total in the division, despite missing nine games.

The same quality has been seen in flashes during his early first-team appearances.

Dowman won two penalties on Arsenal’s pre-season tour in the summer and another on his home debut against Leeds.

“He’s super smart,” said Arteta. “His football IQ, the way he makes decisions, the way he moves, he does it naturally.”

The physical challenge

The issue with being such a dangerous dribbler is that you become a target for opposition defenders.

That has been the case for Dowman throughout his academy career, while Arteta recently joked about how first-team players reacted to being nutmegged by someone, in certain cases, a decade younger than them.

“At the beginning, they responded immediately - kick him! That was the first one,” said Arteta. “And Max, to be fair, he was excellent, stood up, and got to the next one. You just want to hug him, help him. He’s such a nice boy.”

Arteta has described it as “rare” for someone Dowman’s age to remain so emotionally cool, and other coaches have echoed that view.

Dowman has made three substitute appearances for Arsenal this season

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After Arsenal’s Under-18s beat Norwich in April, their coach Adam Birchall praised Dowman’s mentality.

“It’s a difficult thing as a young player when opponents are trying to rough you up, to keep yourself focused and maintain your football thinking,” he said. “I thought he did that really well today.”

Arsenal’s Under-21 coach Max Porter made a similar point after a UEFA Youth League tie against Sporting, when he even raised concerns with officials about how Dowman was being targeted.

Wilshere, during his time as Arsenal’s Under-18 coach, was equally glowing about the teenager’s maturity.

“For a 14-year-old, his character and personality are unreal,” Wilshere said in October last year after a 3-2 win over Birmingham City.

“When we were 2-0 down, he was the one who wanted the ball, drove at their defence, and made things happen. His mentality to keep going, despite being kicked, and staying calm in those moments is impressive.”

Even back in the Under-12s, Williams saw the same traits - and is not surprised that temperament remains today.

“He just knew that would be the case [that he would get targeted],” Williams said. “You never saw him get angry at a player. He expected it, especially because his game is to carry the ball - that’s his key strength.”

Arteta has compared Dowman’s situation to that of Bukayo Saka when he first broke into the first team.

The winger was routinely targeted by opponents, with Arteta and his staff working on ways to protect him.

At 15 years, 235 days, Dowman become the second-youngest player in Premier League history when he came off the bench against Leeds in August

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Saka was taught how to position his body when receiving the ball, while team-mates were instructed on where to play passes to help him avoid heavy contact.

“He [Dowman] is going to have to learn as well when to release the ball, when to adapt his starting position,” said Arteta.

“Those players are going to attract players, contact, attention, and they have to be very smart about when you want that contact and when you don’t, and what you have to do to avoid it.”

Influence of Odegaard and Rice

Integrating a 15-year-old into a first-team environment is not without its challenges - not least because Dowman is so young he cannot even share a dressing room with his team-mates.

Safeguarding rules mean he must get ready in a separate room before training sessions and matches, only joining the group for team talks.

Arsenal’s senior players, however, have made a point of making him feel included and, in captain Martin Odegaard, he has the perfect role model.

Odegaard was just 15 when he made his debut for Norway, and five months later he signed for Real Madrid.

Martin Odegaard knows what it like to be a child prodigy

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The Norwegian has naturally offered advice to Dowman about life in the spotlight at a young age and is on hand with support whenever needed.

Their stories are different, though, as Odegaard left Norway for Madrid at 16, while Dowman is coming through at his boyhood club.

That is why Saka has also been an important figure for him, having navigated the same academy pathway, with Declan Rice another vocal supporter.

Rice has publicly championed Dowman, previously describing him as “the best 15-year-old in the country” and “unreal”.

He has taken Dowman under his wing, joining Odegaard and Saka as sounding boards.

“I’ve never seen a 15-year-old so comfortable around the first team,” said Rice. “I said to Max on the way back from pre-season tour, I couldn’t get my head around that he was going back to school.”

Dowman has been training with the first team since he was 14, and the logistics around that are complex given he will not sit his GCSEs until next summer.

Declan Rice has taken Dowman under his wing

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Dowman’s unique situation of being in the first-team squad at the age of 15 makes things harder, but Arteta has explained how the club have adapted to make it work.

“We need to change his times, we need to change his education, probably his allocation and where he is with his family,” he said.

“His diet is different, his sleep patterns become different, the training load is different, the amount of information, pressure and exposure is different.”

That caution reflects the reality.

For all the excitement, Dowman is a 15-year-old making his very first steps in senior football and Arteta has stressed how the club will carefully manage him.

“It brings responsibility to look after somebody with that talent,” said Arteta. “And make sure we just do what we have to do to give him the best chance to exploit his talent - that’s all.”

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