Why ‘very impressive’ Arsenal player who does ‘unbelievable things’ in training is barred from UCL | OneFootball

15-year-old Max Dowman trained with the Arsenal first-team again on Tuesday ahead of their Champions League game against Dinamo Zagreb at Emirates Stadium today, leaving manager Mikel Arteta impressed.

“Very impressive,” said Arteta, when asked about the youngster training with the first-team.

“At his age as well, some of the things he does in training are unbelievable.

“He’s a player with huge talent and we have a lot of belief that we can develop him to become one of our own. He’s doing very well so far.

“At the moment with all the legislation there are a lot of restrictions for your age, something that in other countries you don’t even mention.

“We’ll have to wait and see. He’s taking very fast steps because every time you put him in a different challenge, a different level, he overcomes that hurdle really quickly which is great.”

Unfortunately, Dowman, who was also involved in the Arsenal first-team training ahead of their Premier League games against Chelsea and Nottingham Forest last November, will not be involved in the Champions League game due to rules regarding players being of a certain age.

A player must be 16 and above to feature in the elite European competition, and the Gunners starlet will have to keep bidding his time until then.

Dowman could soon become the youngest player to feature for Arsenal in the English top-flight at this rate despite the rule barring him from the Champions League.

Ethan Nwaneri currently holds that proud record after coming off the bench for his debut against Brentford in September 2022 aged 15 years and 181 days, but Dowman is getting closer.

He became the youngest player ever to feature for the North London club at under-21 level or equivalent after coming off the bench in a 1-1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion last November, breaking the record set by Nwaneri in the Premier League 2.

Dowman also made history in the UEFA Youth League last September, scoring against Atalanta aged 14 years, eight months and 19 days to become the youngest player to find the back of the net in the history of the European competition.

The 5ft 7in sensation can play in right midfield, central midfield and in a No 10 role behind the striker, and he could soon be setting English and European football set alight.