Arteta Weighs Loan Dilemma for Arsenal Prodigy Max Dowman
Mikel Arteta is in no rush to send Max Dowman out on loan – but he is not shutting the door on it either.
The Arsenal manager confirmed the club will review the 16-year-old’s situation every six months, as they try to balance his explosive rise with the realities of a title-chasing squad.
Dowman’s only minutes this season came in the Carabao Cup at Portman Road, where he started and scored twice in a ruthless display against Ipswich. Those 90 minutes were enough for Mikel Merino to draw a bold comparison, likening the teenager to Barcelona and Spain star Lamine Yamal.
Since then? Nothing. Dowman has not made the matchday squad for Arsenal’s Premier League wins over Aston Villa and Sunderland, a sharp contrast to the noise around his talent.
Arteta, though, insists there was a clear plan from the start.
“We haven't really listened to any of the [loan] possibilities because we were clear that we want to have him in the squad, that we wanted him to be part of the pre-season,” he said.
“I'm going to start to see where we are from there. We will evaluate every six months where we are, what is the best thing for him to do and from there make the right decisions.
“It will depend on a lot of factors: what he needs, where the team is as well, the availability that we have in the squad, the amount of minutes that he's playing, the quality he's delivering when he's got those minutes.
“We have to be open, but now the focus is to be here and impact the team.”
Arteta knows the loan route well. He referenced his own move as a teenager, when he left Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain at 17.
“There have been many cases of that age that they've gone [on loan] and they've been successful, some others not. Particularly, I think I was 17 when I went to Paris [Saint-Germain].
“Depending on the atmosphere that you find there, how much the coach believes in you, you go there just to be part of a squad, not to play minutes.
“Which country? Depends. But now he's in a great place. He's in a good place right now and let's keep him here.”
Dowman is not just another academy hopeful. Last season he became the Premier League’s youngest goalscorer and youngest starter in Arsenal’s title-winning campaign, and also the youngest player in Champions League history as the Gunners surged all the way to the final.
Arsenal have not been afraid to use loans aggressively with their brightest prospects. Over the last nine months, Ethan Nwaneri – who broke the record as the youngest ever Premier League player in 2022 at just 15 – has been sent to Marseille and then Borussia Dortmund, where he is currently playing.
For some, though, Dowman is already beyond that stage.
Jay Bothroyd did not hold back when asked about the teenager’s ceiling on Sky Sports News.
“Noni Madueke is not playing for Arsenal. For me, Max Dowman is better than Madueke now,” he said.
“If you're going to consider Madueke for England, then you definitely have to consider Dowman. And Dowman should be in that England squad right now. There's no doubt about that for me.
“He’s going to be the future of England. He's 16 but this is his second season as a pro. Come the European Championships in 2028, he's going to be 18. He has to be in that squad and if he keeps doing what he's doing, he's going to be in that squad.
“What's the negative? If you're good enough, you're old enough. Professional players think a certain way. They're not thinking: I'm 16, I'll wait a few years. They're thinking I want to play right now, especially if they're thinking they're better than who's in there.
“Dowman needs to be considered, he's the future. The same as how Rio Ngumoha is the future, who is electric.”
For now, Arsenal’s “future” remains firmly in Arteta’s present, waiting for his next chance to turn rare minutes into another statement.
