Mikel Arteta has backed Max Dowman to take his game “to another dimension” once he is finally unleashed at Arsenal, and even admitted the 16-year-old probably deserves more minutes than he has had.
The teenager, who earned praise from Brighton’s boss after his debut, has played only 19 minutes in the Premier League this season, yet the Gunners boss clearly sees him as a huge part of the club’s future.
The timing matters too. With Bukayo Saka facing up to eight weeks out with a quad injury, the right side of the attack suddenly has a gap that somebody has to fill, and Arsenal have a teenager who has already shown he can score at senior level.
Max Dowman minutes: what Arteta said
Asked whether Dowman has the potential to deliver consistently at first-team level, Arteta did not hesitate.
Arteta said: “He does. He needs more minutes to do that. It’s a lot to ask him to provide when he does not have a lot of minutes. It’s very difficult, probably unfair.”
The Spaniard went on to explain why he believes the minutes will change everything: “But the moment that he starts to have more minutes and games I think he’s going to be able to do that because historically that’s what he’s done. The next step is obviously to another dimension and he’s more than capable of doing that.”
It was a refreshingly honest answer. Arteta even accepted that Dowman would be justified in thinking he has earned more first-team opportunities, but he is keen to manage the trajectory carefully.
Arteta’s warning: it will not be a straight line
The message to Dowman was as much about patience as praise. “He needs to understand where he is at and where we are going to take him,” Arteta said. “And that is clear. It will not be a straight line up. Hopefully yes, but normally it is not like this.”
He added that the teenager must be ready at any moment: “He needs to prepare for that but to have the spikes up and when the spikes are down, you better be ready because you never know the moment you are needed and there is no time to say, ‘no but I lack this’. That goes for every player but he is in a good place, he is training really well.”
Arteta also pointed to consistency across every level. “When he had to play with us or the Under-21s he was the same and the same with the national team. We know the player we have and we need to give him the right chances and the right moments. He’s a huge player for us, for our future, and probably he deserves more, so I accept that.”
Max Dowman record and form so far
The numbers explain the excitement. Dowman came off the bench in last season’s 2-0 win over Everton to score and become the youngest scorer in Premier League history, and Arsenal beat Everton 2-0 again on Saturday.
This season he has played just 19 league minutes, but he scored twice in his only senior start, a Carabao Cup win over Ipswich. He is also expected to feature in the Carabao Cup against Fleetwood on Tuesday, which could be the next chance for him to show Arteta what he can do.
The England youth international also scored for the Under-19 side over the international break, though he was later sent off against the United States.
Author opinion
Arteta has not quite promised Dowman a place in the XI, but he has come close to admitting the teenager has been short-changed. With Saka sidelined, N5 could be about to find out whether those “spikes” are ready. Gooners will be hoping so, because this looks like the moment the handbrake comes off.
