Sixteen-year-old Max Dowman (left) scored twice in Arsenal's 4-2 Carabao Cup win against Ipswich Town at Portman Road. (Image: Ross Halls)
Sixteen-year-old Max Dowman (left) scored twice in Arsenal's 4-2 Carabao Cup win against Ipswich Town at Portman Road. (Image: Ross Halls)
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta hailed the 'incredible' talent of Max Dowman after the 16-year-old scored twice in his side's 4-2 Carabao Cup win against Ipswich Town at Portman Road last night.
Chelmsford-born Dowman, who was born at the end of 2009, played a sharp one-two and danced his way past Cedric Kipre to give the Gunners an early lead. The teenager then produced a crisp finish to make it 3-0 soon after the break, adding to the Premier League goal he scored against Everton back in March.
“It's a joy to have him. The same with [17-year-old defender] Marli [Salmon] as well. To play at the level and handle the physicality at their ages is remarkable," enthused Arteta.
"I live in the moment and just having two 16-year-olds playing for Arsenal against a Premier League team is so fulfilling. To be able to experience something like tonight is just phenomenal. Medium and long term, we know that if they continue to develop in the way that they are, we're going to have two tremendous footballers for the future.
“It’s inevitable to talk about Max when he scores and he creates the moments that he has created tonight. There are a lot of things that he needs to do to grow, but at 16, to already do what he does, it's just incredible."
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On whether he'll continue to use Dowman sparingly, the Gunners boss said: "Dependent if he what he does on the pitch, it's not easy, I understand. But what we have to do is look after him - he's 16 years old, you don't see that in this league.
"In other leagues in Europe, that's a totally different context. But in this league, with the demands that the league, the players and everything puts on you, we really need to make sure every time we throw him in, he's in the right context with the right preparation, and that's what we are trying to do.
"We're going to make sure that when we just throw him there, he's ready to handle that at every level, and it's not just that he can run past somebody. There's a lot more things that we need to look after him, but he will dictate that in terms of how he behaves every single day and how many reasons he gives to play because he's part of our squad, like anybody else, no different."
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Arsenal won the Premier League last season and went deep in three cup competitions, losing in both the Champions League and Carabao Cup finals. The Gunners have started this campaign with seven straight wins in all competitions.
“I’m really pleased with a lot of things that we’ve done tonight – the way we attacked the game, how dominant, fluent and aggressive we were right from the beginning to try to influence the result,” Arteta said.
“We scored two very early goals that gave us a great platform for the game and individually some big performances as well. Some debuts tonight, which is great to see as well. So, we take a lot of positives from the night.”