Mikel Arteta has made clear that Arsenal are reviewing Max Dowman’s development every six months, with suggestions of a possible January loan looking premature given the manager’s insistence that the teenager remains in the right place.
Dowman offered another reminder of his quality in Arsenal’s 4-2 Carabao Cup win at Ipswich Town on Tuesday, scoring twice in what was his first appearance of the campaign.
The 16-year-old made 13 appearances in 2025-26, including involvement in the Champions League, while continuing his GCSE studies. He has since left school.
Dowman turns 17 on New Year’s Eve, when he will sign a professional contract already agreed, and there has been speculation that Arsenal could then consider loan approaches if regular football elsewhere were judged more useful to his development.
Arteta’s comments, however, point towards keeping him close rather than any immediate plan to send one of Europe’s most highly regarded young players out on loan.
“We haven’t really listened to any of the possibilities because we were crystal clear that we wanted to have him in the squad, that we wanted him to be part of the pre-season and then start to see where we are from there,” Arteta said.
“We will evaluate every six months, where we are and what is the best thing for him to do and then make the right decision.
“It depends on a lot of factors — what he needs and what the team needs as well, the availability we have in the squad, the minutes that he is playing and the qualities of those minutes.
“We have to be open but now the focus is to be here and to impact the team.
“There have been many cases of that age when they have gone out and been successful and others not,” Arteta added.
“In my particular case I was 17 when I went to Paris.
“It depends on the atmosphere that you find there and how much the coach believes in you, whether you go there just to be part of a squad or play minutes. Which country, it depends.
“But now he is in a good place, let’s keep him here.”
For now, that final line appears to carry the most weight.
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