Skill, confidence & laughs – schoolboy Dowman takes to Premier League

Declan Rice bounced the ball off his backside during an open training session during Arsenal’s summer pre-season visit to Hong Kong, and Max Dowman laughed as he laughed.

The 15-year-old then attempted to emulate the entertaining skill before manager Mikel Arteta slammed the ball away to halt Dowman’s cheery completion.

It served as a reminder that up until last month, Dowman was a year 10 student despite the enormous talent he has displayed during his pre-season appearances for the Arsenal first team and now making his Premier League debut.

Just one day prior to his substitution for Tottenham Hotspur’s talisman Bukayo Saka, he trained at the Kai Tak Stadium. The youngster appeared to be Arsenal’s most promising attacking force when he started.

One of Arsenal’s pre-season highlights was the introduction of substitute quarterback Dowman, who excelled with his runs down the right-hand side and won two penalties against Villarreal and Newcastle United.

He is now the second-youngest player to play for the club at 15 years and 234 days, only trailing only his team-mate Ethan Nwaneri, who made his debut against Brentford at 15 years and 181 days.

The home team’s winger unleashed a weaving run on the 64th minute that was only finished when Leeds left-back Gabriel Gudmundsson brought him down.

Arsenal’s manager Arteta responded to a BBC Sport question about the Dowman’s impact by saying, “This is what we see every day in training.”

We gathered data on how he handled certain situations, such as coming on the bench and feeling prepared during training, while playing for United in Manchester and not being chosen afterwards.

“Thank you very much for this,” his family once more. A child with that much maturity, stability, and hunger, in my opinion, was raised.

“And to the academy, Per Mertesacker, all the coaches, and everyone who has traveled that way,”

Because a young person here is so convinced that when he’s 15 years old, he can go and deliver, which I have never witnessed in my life.

Anyone who has worked for Arsenal will not be surprised by Dowman’s talent. Since he was 14 years old, he has been training with the first-team squad.

He was taken to the team’s warm-weather training camp in Dubai in January, and supporters had been asking for him to play during Arteta’s squad’s demise due to injuries.

When Dowman scored in a win over the Czech Republic in the European Under-17 Championship in May, he became the youngest scorer in the competition.

When he played for the Under-18s at Arsenal, he scored three years over his age group. In 23 games of the Under-18 Premier League South season, he scored 19 goals and provided five assists last season, with 17 of those goals coming in the final seven games (14 goals, three assists).

He was unable to make his Premier League debut last year due to age restrictions, but now he is eligible and Saka could soon face a potential hamstring injury as a result.

Saka was substituted for in four pre-season games before taking a rest against Athletic Bilbao, but the winger appears to be ready for a breakthrough season.

Arteta added that Dowman needs to be “protected” while traveling, but that hasn’t stopped his teammates from praising him.

“I believe everyone can see his potential,” he said. playing against mature men. He is delightful to watch, as is the audience. He’ll likely spend many wonderful years here. After the game, Justin Timber said something.