Arsenal assistant managers Albert Stuivenberg and Gabriel Heinze were in attendance for the u21 win over Wolves at the weekend, with Max Dowman playing and scoring.
Max Dowman made his first start of the season at the weekend, and it was also his first appearance for the Arsenal academy since the start of pre-season.
Dowman had been a first-team regular in the pre-season preparations and the early weeks of the new 2025/26 campaign, but he was in need of a proper 90-minute test. Dropping down to the u21s for their game against Wolverhampton Wanderers allowed him to get just that.
The 15-year-old put in an impressive display, scoring in a 3-2 win, and it wasn’t just Arsenal fans watching on from the stands.
Mikel Arteta’s assistant managers Albert Stuivenberg and Gabriel Heinze were both watching the game, as was former Arsenal midfielder and u18 manager Jack Wilshere.
Though Wilshere turned down an offer to return to Arsenal as their u19 head coach and u21 assistant this summer, he clearly still has a stake in the development of the current crop of young Gunners.
As for Stuivenberg and Heinze, the task was likely to assess one or two players ahead of Wednesday’s League Cup game against Port Vale.
Dowman will be foremost among the group likely to receive call-ups, particularly in the wake of the injury to Noni Madueke. But there could be others, like Andre Harriman-Annous, Charles Sagoe Jr., and Josh Nichols.
With Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz out injured, Arteta could give Harriman-Annous some minutes at centre-forward. Viktor Gyokeres could use a rest, though Arteta does have Mikel Merino, Leandro Trossard, and Gabriel Martinelli as other forward options.
If Stuivenberg and Heinze were watching Harriman-Annous, they would have been impressed by his two-goal performance in the u21 match.
Then, winger Sagoe Jr. and right-back Nichols have both previously made League Cup appearances for the Arsenal first team, so they could be in line for chances again. Arsenal have had some fitness issues at right-back, so Nichols could be used to give the senior options a break.
We’ll get a hint at the players set for first-team involvement on Tuesday night, as the Arsenal u21s play away to Newport County in the EFL Trophy. Anyone involved in that game is very unlikely to feature against Port Vale the following day.