England star Declan Rice is mentoring the youngsters at Arsenal and thinks that 15-year-old attacking midfielder Max Dowman is the real deal, having impressed Mikel Arteta too
Declan Rice is mentoring young star Max Dowman and believes he has the potential to be an Arsenal first-team regular in years to come. Dowman is just 15 years old, yet is already training with Mikel Arteta’s squad at London Colney, having shone at youth level while playing among older teenagers.
Dowman has been turning heads at Hale End for some time, having set a new record as the youngest player to score in the UEFA Youth League, at 14 years, eight months and 19 days, in September. He has been coached by Gunners legend Jack Wilshere, who declared him good enough to go up the age groups inside the academy.
The left-footed attacking midfielder has continued to set records, becoming the youngest ever Premier League 2 player in December, while also turning out for the England under-17s. He was invited to Arsenal’s warm-weather training camp in Dubai and Rice has taken him under his wing, in the hope he can replicate the success of Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri.
“I have had so many texts about Max recently,” Rice told BBC Radio 5 Live. “At 15, there is such a long way to go. You can be the best 15-year-old in the country, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to be at 18.
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“So, you need to be hungry, keep working and keep pushing. I speak to Max a lot and he has got such a good family around him. He is unreal.”
Rice is only 26 himself, but knows how difficult it can be to breakthrough into men’s football, having been released from the Chelsea academy himself as a youngster. He has taken it upon himself to form close bonds with Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri and Dowman in the hope he can help them improve and stay grounded.
“I have a great relationship with all three of them, because Max gets to train with us quite a lot,” he added. “I have kind of taken these three under my wing, because I have been in that position before and I had older players help me out. I get on well with all of them and they are really comfortable around me, which is all part of having a good relationship.”
Arteta had some huge praise for Dowman recently. “Very impressive at his age,” he said. “‘He’s a player with a huge talent that we have a lot belief that we can develop him into becoming one of our own and he’s doing very well so far.
“At the moment with all the legislation there are a lot of restrictions, something that in other countries you don’t even mention. We will have to wait and see. He’s taking very fast steps because every time you give him a different challenge or put him at a different level he overcomes that quickly which is great. We are on it.”
Former Arsenal coach Wilshere saw huge potential in Dowman too. “There’s always a concern when fielding such a young player in these matches, but if you’re good enough, you’re old enough,” he said last year. “He can be more consistent but he’s only 14 and hasn’t even started his GCSEs yet. We need to find a balance of letting him play and enjoy because of his age but also trying to get as much work into him as we can.”
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