David Raya’s had the pleasure of watching both Max Dowman and Lamine Yamal’s brilliance up close and personal, but Arsenal’s goalkeeper doesn’t want to compare the two and instead insists what they are doing is “incredible”.
Last year’s Premier League Golden Glove award winner is Dowman’s team-mate at Arsenal and plays alongside Yamal for Spain at international level.
Few people are better positioned to offer an educated opinion on the pair. Despite Raya believing Dowman and Yamal have contrasting qualities, there’s one thing the young gem’s share.
“They’re alike in that every time they step on the pitch they enjoy playing and are always playing with a smile,” Raya told ESPN. “It seems like they’re playing at school. They go out there to play and to enjoy themselves.
“It’s clear that they want to compete and help the team, but that naturalness to play football at that age—to the calibre they’re playing at—is incredible. They do it with an incredible abandon.”
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At just 15-years-old, Dowman recently became the youngest ever Champions League debutant, bumping Yamal down to third on that list.
The incredible rise of Barcelona’s No. 10 over the past two years is well documented and he’d broken countless records before turning 18 this summer.
Yamal is—incredibly—three years Dowman’s senior. The young Arsenal playmaker has a long way to go to match Yamal’s tender-age achievements and still only has five appearances for Mikel Arteta’s side. Nevertheless, that’s more than Yamal had at that point in his career.
Max Dowman
Max Dowman’s expected to achieve great things. / MICHAL CIZEK/AFP/Getty Images
Incredibly, because of his age, Dowman isn’t allowed to use the same dressing room as the rest of his senior Arsenal teammates—unless it’s during team-talks. But for Raya, all he needs is to watch Dowman on the pitch to notice his maturity.
“We don't share that much in the dressing room because he's not allowed with the rules and everything,” Raya said. ”But sharing the pitch is the maturity that he shows on the pitch, the willingness that he has just to enjoy and to be himself, to take on players, and always with a smile on his face is incredible.
“He’s been training with us since he was 14-years-old, so very impressed with him and his quality as a player. He's 15, he's turning 16 at the end of the year. He’s incredible.”
Raya’s words for the talented Arsenal youngster are reminiscent of what he said about Yamal following Spain’s 2024 Euros success, where he praised him and urged everyone to avoid comparisons.
“We know he’s [Yamal] touched by a magic wand,” Raya said. "He’s a genius at what he does with 17 years, even 16. We need to leave them [comparisons] aside and let him enjoy his football. He’s very young, he must settle down little by little.”
Raya will hope that over the next nine months, Dowman is able to help end Arsenal’s long awaited search for a major trophy, before Yamal’s takes centre stage in Spain’s quest to win the 2026 World Cup.
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