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Max Dowman has been making quite a name for himself during pre-season training with Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal first team.
Dowman has earned serious praise for his performances during the Gunners’ pre-season tour in Asia.
Declan Rice rates Dowman highly and appears to have taken the 15-year-old under his wing already as he makes his way into the first team set-up.
But given his age, the North London club are rightfully being mindful of exposing him to senior football too early, but data suggests that might not be the case.
Arsenal’s data on Max Dowman shows he’s physically ready
Arsenal’s data shows that Max Dowman is physically comparable to any senior player at the club, according to The Athletic’s Stuart James.
The Athletic’s journalist believes that the teenager ticks the boxes of being technically, tactically, mentally and physically ready for first-team football.
During Arsenal training, Dowman’s skills have been wowing his teammates, with the midfielder showing very few signs of fear.
James told The Athletic FC Podcast: “You often talk about the four pillars, the technical side, he ticks that box clearly.
“Tactical, I think he’s got a great understanding of the game, we don’t even know what position he’s going to end up playing in, he could end up on the wing, lots of people think he’ll end up as a ten, there’s even talk of him being a hybrid eight/ten.
“Then you look at the physicality, when Arsenal look at their data, Dowman’s physicality is completely comparable to any first-team player, so he is ready on that level.
“The final element here is, there’s been loads of players over the years who’ve had amazing talent but they haven’t necessarily had the mentality to go with it, and Dowman clearly has that, he will go in and absolutely express himself.”
TBR Football understands that Arsenal remain coy over Dowman’s chances of playing regular minutes next season, especially given their title ambitions.
But if the 15-year-old continues to impress and the metrics show he is ready, there is every chance the Gunners may relax their stance over fast-tracking.
Mikel Arteta’s Max Dowman dilemma vs Newcastle
Mikel Arteta is being super cautious with Dowman and was really left with the dilemma of whether to play him against Newcastle United.
Eddie Howe’s team are known for being quite aggressive, and the Spaniard eventually opted to hand him around 30 minutes of action.
During that half hour, no player was fouled more than the teenager and he even won the penalty, which Martin Odegaard dispatched to secure the win.
“Mikel Arteta gave a lot of thought about whether he’d play Dowman in that Newcastle game because he knew it would be a really physical test,” added James.
“Can he cope with the heavy challenges that might come in? I think I’m right in saying he was the most fouled player in that game, even though he was only on for half an hour and obviously one of those fouls led to a penalty.”
