Arsenal’s Max Dowman has already created history many times over.
At just 14 last season, he became the youngest player to score a goal in the UEFA Youth League, up against opponents as many as four or five years older, and is the youngest to appear in Premier League 2—he was 14 then too, in an Under-21 competition that is also open to over-age players.
Dowman was Arsenal’s second youngest ever player, behind Ethan Nwaneri, upon making his first-team debut as a substitute against Leeds United in August, but the youngest ever starter—aged 15 years, 302 days—when his full debut followed in October.
Still eight weeks shy of his 16th birthday, the teen prodigy is now the youngest player in Champions League history following his appearance in Arsenal’s win over Slavia Prague this week.
The Gunners are hopeful of securing Dowman’s long-term future, with scholar status to be followed by a first professional contract when he turns 17 at the end of 2026. There is thought to be interest from some of the world’s leading rival clubs, but the teen is an Arsenal fan through and through.
In the meantime, with such young age comes important safeguarding responsibility for the club.
Dowman is still a legal child—he is in his final year of mandatory UK schooling and will sit his GCSE exams next May and June. For reference, even Jude Bellingham had completed his GCSEs, albeit not by long, when he made his senior breakthrough at Birmingham City in 2019.
Despite training with the first-team, BBC Sport notes that Dowman has “study time” built into his schedule at Arsenal’s training ground to ensure his education is given the necessary attention. Declan Rice has been asked to serve as a mentor, while the youngster is provided a dedicated one-on-one member of the team’s security personnel when they travel to and from matches.
As a minor, Dowman also cannot get changed in the same room as Arsenal’s senior players and so will dress in a separate space before joining the rest of the squad for tactical instructions and team talks from Mikel Arteta and the coaching staff. Every member of the group has their own room for hotel stays anyway, so additional or special measures don’t need to be taken there.
If You’re Good Enough, You’re Old Enough
Arteta has shown with his previous use of Nwaneri at a similar age, as well as making a teenage Bukayo Saka such a key player upon first arriving five years ago, that it is but a number. The Spaniard doesn’t worry about anything other than whether a player is good enough to command their place.
In his eyes, Dowman certainly is at that level already.
“If we looked at his passport every day, we would never play him, simple as that,” Arteta explained recently. “So it is finding a balance, an understanding, especially the load, the things that are changing in his life, and making sure he can cope with that. So far, he has done that.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Max Dowman: The Measures Arsenal Are Taking to Safeguard 15-Year-Old Prodigy.