Max Dowman appeared to confirm his promotion to Arsenal’s Under-21 squad as he returned to pre-season training today.
The 15-year-old is considered one of the most promising young talents to emerge from Arsenal’s academy in recent memory and is being tipped for a big future at the Emirates.
Despite his tender years, Dowman has already trained with Mikel Arteta’s first-team on a number of occasions and the attacking midfielder joined the rest of the squad at the club’s warm-weather camp in Dubai in February.
Myles Lewis-Skelly, 18, and Ethan Nwaneri, 17, both enjoyed magnificent breakthrough seasons with Arsenal last term, emerging from the Hale End youth ranks to establish themselves as genuine stars in north London.
There are hopes Dowman could have a similar impact down the line, but the Gunners are taking a cautious approach with the teenager while he prepares to make his first steps in senior football.
Get personalised updates on Arsenal everyday
Wake up to find news on your club in your inbox every morning with Metro’s Football Newsletter.
Sign up to our newsletter and then select your team in the link we’ll send you so we can get football news tailored to you.
Dowman is, though, expected to continue his involvement with Arsenal’s first-team stars in pre-season on the back of an excellent campaign with the Under-18s last term.
This afternoon, Dowman took to Instagram to share a photograph from Arsenal’s London Colney training complex and the youngster seemed to intimate that he had now officially joined the U21s, despite still technically being an U16 player.
The numbers for U18 players run through from 70 upwards and, rather tellingly, the picture in question – which was accompanied by an hourglass emoji – showed Dowman donning a pair of No.56 adidas shorts.
Dowman had previously worn the No.99 shirt with the north London outfit.
Back in December, the England Under-17 international made his debut for Arsenal’s U21 side against Brighton at the age of just 14 – becoming the youngest ever player to feature in Premier League 2.
He also holds the record for the youngster ever goalscorer in a UEFA Youth League match after finding the net against Atalanta before turning 15 last September.
Speaking to BBC Sport in March, Declan Rice encouraged the ‘unreal’ teen to ‘keep pushing’ to give himself the best possible chance of fulfilling his potential in senior football.
‘I have had so many texts about Max recently,’ the Arsenal and England central midfielder said.
‘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.
‘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.’
Ashley Cole, meanwhile, has urged Arsenal fans to ‘relax’ and give Dowman the time and space he needs to grow at his own pace.
‘He’s another one who has come through the Arsenal ranks,’ the former Arsenal and England left-back said on That Peter Crouch Podcast.
‘With everything online now, you get to see little clips of these players. It’s tough because I don’t know how they handle pressure.
‘Firstly, you’re giving these players a platform. There are companies on Instagram that post youth team games and clips of players and it’s great because the players are getting exposure.
‘But on the flip side of that, it’s also adding pressure and do you want to add pressure to a 16-year-old? Their time will come.
‘If they can keep continuing to do what they’re doing and playing well, everyone will know their name in two or three years. But there is a lot of pressure on these kids.
‘We’re talking about him but has he even played a first-team game yet? In my opinion, you have to be a little bit more careful on how how you handle this younger generation of players.’
According to Cole, the level of expectation and pressure on Dowman’s shoulders is ‘unfair’.
‘You heap this pressure on these players and I don’t think it’s fair,’ he added.
‘I bet every Arsenal fan is going, “Why is he [Dowman] not being more involved in the first-team? Why is he not getting a chance?”, but hold up.
‘He’s doing exams as well, by the way! Similar to Myles [Lewis-Skelly] but let’s relax a little bit and let time take its toll and hopefully they will get their opportunity and then everyone will know their name.’