Arsenal’s Max Dowman has been tipped to make his England senior debut this year, but the World Cup is likely to come too soon.
Andy Dunn writes for the Mirror that Max Dowman is on track to break Theo Walcott’s record and become the youngest player in England history, with the Arsenal youngster having until the end of 2026 to achieve that feat.
Dowman turns 17 on December 31st, and the record currently stands at 17 and 75 days. But given there are no international fixtures in the first 75 days of 2027, that means the youngster has until this year’s final international break in November to break the record.
Of course, one way for Dowman to smash the record and also break the record for the youngest World Cup player of all time would be to appear in this summer’s tournament, but Dunn argues that will “almost certainly come too soon”.
As Art de Roche points out for The Athletic, Dowman has his GCSE exams coming up this summer, with the exam period beginning on May 4th and ending on June 26th.
The World Cup kicks off on June 11th, with England playing their first game on June 17th but holding a friendly match against Costa Rica on June 10th.
So if Dowman wants to focus on his exams, he won’t realistically be able to be in the United States preparing for the World Cup at the same time.
Arsenal will also be aware of Dowman’s educational commitments, so perhaps don’t expect to see too much of the 16-year-old during the title run-in in May.
Dowman was fantastic against Mansfield Town at the weekend, only lacking the finishing touch on a couple of great moves that left experienced opponents in his wake.
The youngster certainly should have had an assist, with Gabriel Jesus wasting a great opportunity from a Dowman cutback.
As a reminder, Dowman would become the youngest goalscorer in Premier League or Champions League history if he nets even a single goal at any point this season. That’s how young he is, and that’s a big reason why a World Cup call-up is so unlikely to happen.