Arsenal must persuade teenage sensation Max Dowman there may be a transparent pathway to first team football before he commits to signing knowledgeable contract.
The 15-year-old is already earning rave reviews following his performances for Arsenal’s youth teams and he’s already firmly on Mikel Arteta’s radar.
Dowman has trained repeatedly alongside the likes of Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice this season and was included on the club’s warm weather training camp to Dubai in January.
Premier League rules have prevented Dowman from making his senior debut this season but it surely appears increasingly likely he can be welcomed into the fold next term.
Dowman turns 16 in December and it as that time that Arsenal will hope to secure his long-term future.
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Based on The Athletic, Arsenal are understood to be in a powerful position but with their rivals fastidiously monitoring the midfielder’s situation they’ll must assure him of suitable plan for his development before he puts pen to paper.
Arsenal have a mixed record over the past 12 months with regards to retaining the services of their best Hale End Academy graudates.
While each Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri are each fully-fledged members of Arteta’s first team having bothmade significant breakthroughs over the course of the last six months, two potential stars have departed.
Striker Chido Obi joined Manchester United back in October and defender Ayden Heaven followed suit in January.
Each have already made their top flight debuts under Ruben Amorim and now look set for careers at the highest level having doubted they’d have enjoyed opportunities to flourish at Arsenal.
No matter where he finally ends up, it seems inevitable that Dowman will succeed given the thrill and hype around him.
In an interview with talkSPORT last week, John Terry recalled the recent meeting between Chelsea and Arsenal’s youth sides and tipped Dowman to achieve the very top.
But the previous captain also highlighted the efforts of Chelsea’s brightest talents who kept the Arsenal prodigy in check.
‘There are these three or 4 [Chelsea] boys playing up on the 18s already, playing there on the age of 14 and 15,’ Terry said.
‘That’s a special level and so they are standing out at that level.
‘What I really like a few couple of them, they’ve somewhat little bit of personality.
‘We were playing against Arsenal recently and Max Dowman was playing. Have you ever seen him play? He’s a top, top player.
‘He was taking the ball on the half turn, drifting away from players, looking back and a few our boys went and put it on him somewhat bit. It was good to see. But Dowman is a really, excellent player.’
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