Mikel Arteta says Max Dowman’s red card at Fleetwood is “a chapter that is gone”, and the 16-year-old goes back to Prague on Wednesday a year to the day after he made Champions League history there.
Arteta spoke in Prague on Tuesday evening, the night before Arsenal face Slavia Prague at the Fortuna Arena (8pm UK time). Most of the talk was about William Saliba’s return, but the Arsenal boss also gave a long and very honest answer about the teenager who has had the toughest week of his young career.
The short version: Arteta isn’t worried. He thinks Max Dowman has handled it well, he’s ready to pick him again, and he sees the Fleetwood night as something the youngster had to go through sooner or later.
What did Arteta say about Max Dowman?
Arteta made it clear the club has moved on. He said: “That’s a chapter that is gone. It’s a moment of learning from all of us, and we move on. You learn from the not-so-good ones, you have to make sure you learn from the great ones as well. And he’s been engaged.”
He also described the mood around the player since the sending off. “When you see the kids and today we spent some time together, talking about things in training, he’s always super positive. When you’re 16 you have a different way of looking at things and treating things, and that’s what he brings to the team as well.”
Arteta added that the squad has stayed close to Dowman, not out of any sense of guilt, but because when a team-mate is sad or feels vulnerable, people want to help him.
“Have you seen my press conference?”
The most revealing part was how Arteta talks to Dowman away from the cameras. He said: “I sit down with him and I just say, have you seen my press conference? What do you think? I’m just honest with him. It’s public so we just have this kind of relationship. I think it’s the way it should be and if he thinks something different he needs to tell me. That’s the relationship we try to build with our players.”
And he made a point that every Gooner should take on board. Dowman is going to get kicked, a lot, and the reaction is the thing he has to learn. “He’s in a good place and that at the end is going to come out as a critical point in his career where he needs to learn about something that is going to be happening a few times every game for him. This is not something that’s going to happen maybe once or twice a season, three or four times per game,” Arteta said.
That’s exactly what happened at Highbury Stadium. With the Carabao Cup tie level at 1-1, Fleetwood defender Harrison Neal flew into a challenge on Dowman, the teenager kicked out, and he was shown a straight red for violent conduct. We went through the incident and the reaction to it in our piece on why Arsenal’s appeal for their 16-year-old was always going to struggle.
Is Max Dowman available against Slavia Prague?
Yes. Arsenal’s appeal was dismissed, with an independent Regulatory Commission rejecting claims of both wrongful dismissal and excessive punishment, so the three-match ban stands. But it only covers domestic football. Dowman is free to play in the Champions League.
Asked whether he would hand the youngster a Champions League start, Arteta said that was his choice to make, and added: “It’s another year in his career and he’s shown that every time he’s played with us, he has a lot to offer.”
Domestically, the ban has already cost him the 1-0 win at Liverpool, and he will also miss Saturday’s home game against Hull City at the Emirates and the trip to Newcastle on 21 November after the international break. His next Premier League involvement can come when Manchester City visit on 29 November.
Three matches Dowman misses
| Date | Match | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday 1 November | Liverpool 0-1 Arsenal | Served |
| Saturday 7 November | Arsenal vs Hull City | Suspended |
| Saturday 21 November | Newcastle vs Arsenal | Suspended |
Back where it all started
The timing is almost too neat. On 4 November 2025, Dowman came off the bench in the 72nd minute of a 3-0 win in Prague and, at 15 years and 308 days, became the youngest player ever to appear in the Champions League.
Twelve months on, there’s another record within reach. Ansu Fati is still the youngest scorer in the competition’s history, at 17 years and 40 days, for Barcelona against Inter. Dowman turns 17 on 31 December, so he has until February to beat it. A goal on Wednesday would do it with plenty to spare.
The other angle is simple: this is the first chance he has had to play since Fleetwood. The Premier League ban means the Champions League is his only outlet for the rest of the month, which makes Wednesday a better shot at minutes than it might otherwise have been. For the wider team news, including Saliba, see our update on Saliba from the same press conference and our Slavia Prague vs Arsenal preview.
Verdict: Max Dowman needs minutes, not more lectures
We like how Arteta has handled this. He backed the appeal, didn’t hide behind it when it failed, and is now talking about the red card as a lesson rather than a scandal. That’s the right tone for a 16-year-old.
But the best way to put Fleetwood to bed is to play him. Slavia at home are not Liverpool at Anfield, the ban rules him out of two league games anyway, and Arteta is likely to rotate with Hull coming on Saturday. If Dowman gets a run in Prague and keeps his head when the first heavy tackle comes in, and it will come in, that will tell us far more about how he has taken this week than any press conference.
