Former Arsenal defender William Gallas has urged the Gunners to be careful with Max Dowman to get the most out of him.
Dowman is the primary candidate to be the next breakout star in the Arsenal squad. Last season, we saw the emergence of both Ethan Nwaneri, and Myles Lewis-Skelly, and this year, 15-year-old Dowman seems to be coming through.
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The midfielder made Mikel Arteta’s Champions League squad, and has already made two appearances out of three Premier League games so far this season. He is expected to develop into one of the most exciting English midfielders around, but former Gunner Gallas beliveves that Arsenal need to be careful with him.
Gallas told Gambling Zone: “Max Dowman already has that maturity. My goodness, we’ll see how it goes with him. But for now, it all depends on his body.”
“If he’s strong, at 15, then he’s definitely able to play a few minutes. I’d be careful about giving him too much time. He can’t play a full 90 minutes yet, nobody that age would be ready for it. I think for now he can start to adjust, but he can’t be considered fully ready to be a first-team player just yet.
“Arsenal have to make sure to take care of him and keep hold of him. Perhaps that, along with his obvious talent, is one of the reasons he’s involved with the first team this season.”
Dowman could be the next Jack Wilshere for Arsenal
The 15-year-old still has a lot of developing to do, but one of the natural comparisons is Jack Wilshere, who broke into the Gunners first team aged 16.
Gallas played with Wilshere at Arsenal, and he believes that Dowman is capable of reaching the same heights as the former England star.
“He [Wilshere] came to us as a teenager and already looked 20.” Gallas added. “So for him, because he was also clever and very intelligent in how he saw the game, he could adjust. I’m sure Max is the same, and he’ll be eyeing up all his team-mates as players he could replace soon.”
Click here to see the rest of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal squad, and individual profiles for each player.