Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Max Dowman will get minutes in Bukayo Saka’s absence, but he needs time to build the habits of a more senior Premier League player.
Bukayo Saka is reportedly set to miss the next couple of months of action with Arsenal, leaving the Gunners in a tricky situation with their attacking options.
Noni Madueke is the usual alternative to Saka, but he’s been needed on the left in Christos Tzolis’ absence. Eberechi Eze can also play on the left, as he showed in midweek, but beyond Madueke and Eze there are very few available options.
16-year-old Max Dowman is one of them, and the teenager appears to have made the squad to face Everton on Saturday. Speaking ahead of the game, Mikel Arteta answered questions about whether Dowman would get chances in Saka’s absence.
“He’s training, and every time he’s got a moment to play, he’s showing that he’s a player who is going to impact the game, so for sure he’s going to have minutes,” Arteta said (via Arsenal.com and HaytersTV).
“Here (at Arsenal) it’s different (to other clubs), and the margins are much smaller, and he needs to be able to do that, but understanding where he is as well, you know?
“He’s someone that really wants to learn, and he really wants to do it. He just needs the habit, and a habit takes some time to do it.
“What we cannot take is the talent, the freedom, and the capacity that he has to do the things that are not on that piece of paper and the ones that you haven’t described, because he is unique at doing that.”
At such a young age, Dowman has already made a first-team impact at Arsenal on multiple occasions.
There was the penalty he won against Leeds United last season, the iconic goal against Everton, and the Player of the Round performance he put in against Ipswich Town last month.
The question is really just whether he’s ready to do it on a consistent basis. Most players his age aren’t playing first-team football at all.
Even the footballers who have played in the Premier League at 16 through the years generally only got a moment or two. It would be unprecedented in the division’s history for Dowman to get a run of starts.
It wouldn’t be the first time Dowman had done something no one had done before, but it’s up to Arteta whether he thinks this latest challenge is one the teenager is capable of living up to.
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