The media has gone but I think people are sleeping a bit on this performance. Perhaps many on here are already feeling hype fatigue with him, which is understandable. With just a few marginal differences this would’ve gone down as a jaw-dropping performance. Say he finishes the wonder-goal, score one of the other big chances he had and gets two brilliant assists (out of his control) from Martinelli and Jesus then you’d be looking at something truly special. I think what was most important in the performance is how well he fitted into the fabric of the team. We’ve seen for England him be a bit too greedy and disconnected from his teammates (not entirely his fault) but in this game his performance was a lot more mature and linked up brilliantly. One thing is that he was playing more central in the Odegaard position which allows the player to find more pockets of space than on the wing. The other interesting thing was him dropping deep and holding the ball up like a 9 at times, he won the second most amount of duals across both sides through this. He still overplayed at times but was better than all the other Arsenal senior attackers, although Madueke might disagree with that. Arteta is looking at the biggest run in Arsenal’s history but his team is too often looking insipid in attack, surely he’ll see a pretty big part for Dowman in the coming months. I’m still maintaining that he’s got an outside chance at going to the World Cup given he’s likely to be involved in some major games, whilst his rivals in the England squad are struggling for form and fitness.
You could probably count the number of 16-year-olds on planet Earth who are capable of doing this against senior pros on one hand. He's an athletic freak. Such a powerful runner who can also change direction at ridiculous speeds. The way he holds opponents off who are much bigger than him and the way he rides contact is ridiculous too. He's doing all this well before his frame has properly developed too. Don't get me wrong I'm all for the media under hyping him, but I completely agree that not enough has been made of it. This is well beyond what is normal for a teenager with so little senior experience. He already looks blatantly superior to a good number of Arsenal's senior attackers so I think we're going to see a fair bit more of him this season. A World Cup spot is definitely possible.
Really! I would be amazed if Tuchel is even looking at him. He has a chance for Euro 2028 I would say.
There’s certainly an opportunity for Dowman to make Tuchel start considering him given the massive run in that Arsenal have. Of course many things have to fall into place and Dowman would have to deliver. An ‘outside chance’ means it probably won’t happen but I think it’s possible.
There's no way Tuchel wouldn't at least be looking at a player who was playing regularly (and well) for Arsenal. In reality he'll be looking at everyone who's playing regularly in the PL. I don't think Dowman is likely to go to the WC, but it's possible if he starts getting regular minutes.
I would be very surprised if Dowman got used more than a handful of times in the run in. It's one thing playing him against a league two level side, to throwing him into much bigger matches. The use of him isn't really any different than pre-injury when he got some cup minutes here and there. As a wider point, given he's already had one bad injury this season they should also be wary to manage him well over the coming years. Having just turned 16 he's still very much developing and they'll need to be careful how they manage him. I guess they can look to Yamal as a 16 year old who had tremendous impact, though I guess it'll be in the coming years we'll see how much playing so much football so soon impacted him.
Why Arsenal star Max Dowman will soon be a player Thomas Tuchel finds impossible to resist | @andydunnmirrorhttps://t.co/Twn0f2jJx1 pic.twitter.com/v6uhsV8kqF— Mirror Football (@MirrorFootball) March 8, 2026
I do mostly agree, I just wouldn't rule it out. Arsenal so often descend into looking utterly turgid and Dowman just naturally forces the issue. I also think there were plenty of signs earlier in the season and in preseason that he can affect games at Premier League level. I think ultimately Arsenal will want to protect him like you say though and stagger his development. It's just with top academy players, their ability to affect a game at senior level mostly comes down to whether or not they're physically developed enough and Dowman looks like an extremely rare athlete.
He's only played 600 minutes this season for Arsenal across all teams and only 3 times has he played 90 minutes, all in youth games. I don't think there's an issue of overload. I'm certain that he got injured in the friendly with United by a defender that was upset that they kept getting embarrassed by him and lashed out, we've seen it loads of times in youth games when he's playing for England. I think that's the biggest threat to him and why playing at a lower level with poor pitches and weak refs is not a good idea.
one of the things i most admire about Dowman is his ability to keep going. example: takes a shot, misses or saved, senior player remonstrates, it doesn't bother him. time and again. his choosing the "right" option will come over time, but to not be beaten down by this at the fragile age he is at is indicative of bigger things - esp when you combine his innate footballing talent.
Seems Mukasa has already made it into the doghouse Been benched for the talent that is Bobby Cordova Reid. I could sort of see the argument at Ipswich away but this is ridiculous
He's not in the dog house Bobby Reid was used to run his legs off and is more defensively disciplined for the game at Ipswich He was injured at the weekend
Ok. So why didn't he play at home to Bristol City ? It's the same cowardice by English managers. Go for the " experienced" donkeys who got us into the mess in the first place. Then we wonder why our youth players can struggle to progress at times. We don't trust them Bobby Reid is awful. Can't wait until him and Ayew (amongst others) are out of the club
England men’s under-19s England v Serbia UEFA U19 EURO Qualifying Elite Round 11am GMT, Wednesday 25 March Campo da Pista Atletismo Gemos Crastro England v Poland UEFA U19 EURO Qualifying Elite Round 11am GMT, Saturday 28 March Campo da Pista Atletismo Gemos Crastro Portugal v England UEFA U19 EURO Qualifying Elite Round 4pm BST, Tuesday 31 March Estadio Amelia Morais Squad named: 1pm GMT, Friday 20 March 2026
Exactly the situation today. Arsenal have these games where they look completely naff going forward every other week and Dowman has the athletic ability and the arrogance to just force the issue. He'll probably get even more minutes going forward.
That was fair composure for a 15 year old to be fair, taking the ball from deep in his own half dribbling past two players to walk the ball into an empty net. Most senior pros would have just shot from way inside his half, no way would they attempt that.