England u21 boss Lee Carsley believes it’s inevitable Max Dowman will be promoted to the u21s, but they want to wait for the right moment.
Despite scoring two goals in his first-team appearance for Arsenal in the League Cup just last week, Max Dowman will be with the England u19s for the September-October international break.
There has been some talk in the media that Dowman might get the chance to train with the senior team, following a number of withdrawals. But the youngster will feature on the pitch for the u19 side on this occasion.
U21 boss Lee Carsley was asked this week about why the Arsenal youngster hasn’t been promoted to the u21s yet, despite effectively becoming a senior player with his club.
“He’s definitely an outstanding talent. It’s inevitable that he’s going to be with the Under-21s because of his talent,” Carsley said.
“But we have to make sure we do that at the right time, that he comes away with us and plays minutes and competes with the other players that are in his position.
“Obviously me and Thomas [Tuchel] speak regularly about squad selection and you know of what potentially you might need with the 21s, so Max is always in the conversation because of his talent.
“We’re fortunate we’ve got some really good players in a lot of the forward positions, but he’s definitely one we really rate.”
Carsley then made the comparison with Ethan Nwaneri, who was previously spoken about in a similar way, but who remains with the u21 team years on from those conversations.
“We had a similar issue a few years ago with Ethan Nwaneri,” Carsley recalled. “He was early and he made his debut and he’s done really well but there’s that tendency to push him on quickly.
“We have to be patient and make sure that ultimately we want them to play for the senior team for a prolonged period so we have to make sure we get the time right with that.”
England obviously aren’t completely against promoting their best young players. 19-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly made his debut for the senior team in March of last year, and he’s in the squad again this time. Liverpool 18-year-old Rio Ngumoha has also been called up this month.
But it’s easy to forget that Dowman is still just 16, years younger than both of those two. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he’d received his chance with the senior team by the time he’s an adult, like them. He’s just not there yet.
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