Arsenal phenom Max Dowman has an "aura" around him that makes it hard not to bring up the "Lionel Messi thing" whenever he is on the ball, Gunners expert Charles Watts has claimed.
The 15-year-old had already lit up stadiums in pre-season after coming off the bench, winning penalties against Tottenham Hotspur and Villarreal, and his quick feet proved too nifty for Premier League defenders to handle once again at the weekend.
Dowman made his top-flight debut in Saturday's 5-0 thumping of Leeds United - becoming the second-youngest player in the competition's history after teammate Ethan Nwaneri - and he won a late spot kick for Viktor Gyokeres to round off the scoring after taking a stamp to the foot from Anton Stach.
Dowman had a couple of cracks at goal himself, and while the 2009-born attacker failed to hit the target, he has all season to break the record for the youngest goalscorer that the Premier League has ever seen.
James Vaughan has held that record for 20 years, scoring for Everton against Crystal Palace at 16 years and 271 days in April 2005, but when asked by Sports Mole if Dowman had to dethrone the now-37-year-old, he replied: "I'd imagine so!
"He was electric. I've never seen a player like him. It’s unprecedented what we're seeing. There's no fear, no worries, even if he's got two men around him, they'll give him the ball. They'll trust him to be able to deal with it.
“And the way he just takes players on; if you're the fullback, I keep imagining what is running through their head. ‘Stop it! I'm a professional Premier League player. You're 15 years old. How dare you - you're embarrassing me here.’ But they can't stop him.
"The Messi thing comes up" with Arsenal's Max Dowman
Arsenal's Max Dowman pictured on February 28, 2025
“He's fearless. He really is. There’s lots of people who don't want to say it, when you're talking about who does he remind you of at that age, the Messi thing comes up. I'm not saying he's going to be Lionel Messi or achieve anything close to what, in my opinion, the greatest of all time has. But it's just that aura around him when he's on the ball.
“He doesn't look like a 15-year-old kid. He looks like a seasoned professional who is better than everyone else. I genuinely think he's going to be a really, really important member of the squad this season. Age isn’t going to come into it. He's just that good.”
Dowman was introduced in the 64th minute of the match when Arsenal were already four goals to the good, thanks to a brace from Jurrien Timber, a Bukayo Saka strike and Gyokeres's first competitive goal in a Gunners kit.
The Sweden international latched onto a long pass from Riccardo Calafiori, evaded a couple of Leeds challenges as he cut inside from the left and found a gap at Lucas Perri's near post, leaving the Whites goalkeeper rooted to the spot.
Gyokeres subsequently fired in the ferocious last-gasp penalty that Dowman won, thus becoming just the second Arsenal player to score two goals on their Premier League home debut after Gabriel Jesus vs. Leicester City in August 2022, as he silenced the critics from the previous weekend.
The 27-year-old had flattered to deceive against Manchester United at Old Trafford, but Watts had no doubts that Gyokeres would respond in North London adding: "“It sums him up. A lot of the talk has been he's got the personality and character to deal with the pressure of being Arsenal's new number nine, when the whole world has been waiting to see who Arsenal sign.
"No fears" over Gyokeres character after "ridiculous" Man United criticism
Arsenal's Viktor Gyokeres celebrates scoring on August 23, 2025
“There was going to be an awful lot of pressure on whoever that guy was. People looked at Gyokeres and felt he had the personality and the character to be able to deal with that. What was said after Manchester United was ridiculous. It was one 60-minute performance and he was not helped by his teammates.
“He bounced back in a way I fully expected him to. I went into that game expecting him to score. I thought Arsenal would play well, win the game pretty comfortably. It panned out like that.
“The first goal was classic Viktor Gyokeres. At Sporting, so many of goals came from running down that left hand channel, getting himself on a quick ball. It was good to see Calafiori make that pass, put it into a position where Gyokeres can attack it. And he did what Victor Gyokeres does.
“The noise when that goal went in, you could sense the relief amongst the fans. You could probably sense the relief on Gyokeres’s face as well. When that ball hit the net, there was real release. He had the miss in the first half when he snatched at that chance, and you thought at that point, ‘oh no, come on.’
“But that’s what he's done for the last two years. And I had no fears that he wasn't going to score those sort of goals for Arsenal.”
Gyokeres is expected to keep his place at the tip of the attack when Arsenal visit champions Liverpool on Sunday, where Dowman will also likely be a part of the matchday squad after the Gunners learned the extent of Saka's hamstring injury.
> Click here to listen to the full conversation on Dowman and Arsenal's win over Leeds United
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