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Saturday was a special day for Arsenal for many reasons.
They presented their new signing, Eberechi Eze, to fans before thrashing Leeds United 5-0. In that match, Viktor Gyokeres scored his first competitive goals for the club, and in the second half, Max Dowman came on for his Premier League debut.
Aged 15 years and 235 days, he became the second-youngest player in Premier League history after Ethan Nwaneri, who made his debut at 15 years and 181 days against Brentford in September 2022.
For those who were getting their first glimpse of him against Leeds, here is how Arsenal prepared Dowman for a first-team debut at such a young age.
First, are there age restrictions on playing in the Premier League?
It may surprise some, but had he been allowed, there might have been a chance of Mikel Arteta handing Dowman his debut last season.
Towards the end of the 2024-25 campaign, the Arsenal manager was openly talking about the youngster in press conferences, but Premier League age restrictions rules state the youngest a player can be is in the under-16 age group.
Age groups from under-9s until under-20s are determined by school years, so with Dowman a year 10 (aged 14-15) last season, he was not eligible to play.
In May, when discussing his squad-planning and whether Dowman was in his thoughts, Arteta said: “For the near future, yes. Let’s see how this evolves but we certainly got a big, big talent there.”
What are the rules around under-18 players in a first-team environment?
As per Premier League protocols around safeguarding, Dowman changes separately until the age of 18 — similar to Liverpool’s Rio Ngumoha, who at 16 years and 361 days old scored on his Premier League debut on Monday against Newcastle United last night.
This is the case for all under-18 players in the league.
Nwaneri, who turned 18 in March of last season, is the most recent example from an Arsenal perspective.
Players at Arsenal do not room-share as used to be the case, so there are no issues there when Dowman has been part of a travelling away squad.
As the situation is still at a very early stage, considerations will need to be had on how to balance Dowman’s integration with the first team and his schooling. He is still a child coming to the end of his summer holidays, and will be heading into year 11 (the final year of secondary school in the UK) next month.
How much has Dowman been involved with the Arsenal first team?
Before getting into his first-team involvement, it is worth mentioning when Dowman hit particular milestones on his way to that point. He made his under-18s debut at 13 in the 2023-24 season. The following year, he became the youngest scorer in the UEFA Youth League and made his Premier League 2 debut at 14.
He has been among Arsenal’s first team since last season, even joining them on their mid-season training camp in Dubai in February.
That integration, as well as Arteta’s words, made pre-season involvement inevitable. In terms of player care, the 15-year-old was supported by the academy and first team when he joined the tour to Singapore and Hong Kong. From the first-team squad, Declan Rice in particular has become a mentor figure.
Rice has acted as a mentor to Dowman (Yu Chun Christopher Wong/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)
Arsenal played five friendlies, and he came off the bench in four, winning penalties against Newcastle United and Villarreal. What stood out was his ability to drive with the ball and the way he received passes on the half-turn. The Villarreal game was a telling sign of Arteta’s belief in Dowman. Arsenal were 2-1 down with half an hour to play, and he brought on the teenager alongside Rice and Martin Odegaard.
After Dowman’s Premier League debut on Saturday, defender Jurrien Timber told Sky Sports: “Playing today against grown men, he is a joy to watch, for the crowd too. Hopefully, he will have many amazing years here.”
Noni Madueke has also spoken about being impressed by Dowman’s character at such a young age.
How did Arsenal prepare Dowman for his first-team debut?
After Dowman’s first senior appearance at the Emirates Stadium, against Villarreal in pre-season, Arteta was quick to highlight the reality of the situation.
“He needs a little break because he hasn’t had any holidays really,” the Arsenal manager said in his post-match press conference. “So, in the next few days, he’s going to have a break.”
Dowman’s first Emirates appearance for the first team came against Villarreal in pre-season (Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
He was back among the first team the following week, travelling to Manchester United away, but not as part of the matchday squad. That day at Old Trafford, he was seen observing Arsenal’s pre-match warm-ups from the touchline with security alongside him — an extra measure of safeguarding that is being overseen by Arsenal.
On deciding to give Dowman his first-team debut, Arteta said: “We just gathered information about how he handles certain situations in terms of training, being in the squad and not being selected afterwards in Manchester, coming on the bench and feeling ready.
“(It is) a big compliment to his family as well. I think they’ve raised a kid with a level of maturity, stability and hunger that is very difficult to see (elsewhere). And obviously (credit) to the academy. Credit to all the coaches involved in that journey.
“Because there is a kid here that has zero hesitation. He’s so convinced that he can go at 15 and deliver that, which I’ve never witnessed in my life. And for us, it brings joy, it brings emotion and something else that makes our jobs so great.”
Could Dowman be used quite a lot this season?
This is hard to say. There is no real precedent for integrating a 15-year-old into a first-team environment.
Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal made his debut at 15, but was not blooded in until he was 16. Nwaneri’s debut was at 15, but he was not fully integrated until he was 17.
Further back, Jack Wilshere and Cesc Fabregas made Arsenal debuts at 16, but were not integrated until they were 17 and 18 respectively. Even Lionel Messi did not make his competitive debut until he was 17.
Ethan Nwaneri made his first-team debut aged 15 in September 2022 (Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Wilshere’s case may be the most comparable to Dowman’s at this moment. He made his Arsenal debut in the last six minutes of a 4-0 win over Blackburn Rovers in September 2008. It was the fourth Premier League game of the season and, while he made seven more appearances in cup competitions that year, his involvement was gradual until his breakthrough 2010-11 season.
Projecting too much onto Dowman this early is risky. He is still a child. From a footballing perspective, however, while he was more of an attacking midfielder in the academy, using him on the right wing has helped him adjust to facing senior pros and still show his strengths.
Arsenal being 4-0 up at home to Leeds made for the perfect introduction. Arteta utilising such moments feels like the way to go in the Premier League, while favourable cup games could provide chances for more exposure.
(Top photo: Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)