Arsenal wonderkid Max Dowman blocked from Premier League debut after second hat-trick in three games

Max Dowman scored four goals for the Arsenal Under-18s as they won 4-0 over Reading. Adam Birchall’s star midfielder and captain ran the show and scored his second hat-trick in three matches for the side.

Unfortunately, Dowman could score only two in the 3-1 win over Norwich between the two to stop him from getting a hat-trick of hat-tricks. Mikel Arteta has spoken highly of the 15-year-old midfielder who is a regular feature in the senior Arsenal training sessions.

football.london saw Dowman training with the first team before the UEFA Champions League match with Dinamo Zagreb. In the subsequent press conference, we put it to Arteta to give his thoughts on the youngster.

“Very impressive at his age, as well some of the things that he does in training are unbelievable,” Arteta replied. “He’s a player obviously with a huge talent that we have a lot of belief that we can develop him to become one of our own. And he's doing very well so far.”

Ethan Nwaneri famously made his debut at 15 years old and became the Premier League’s youngest ever star. This naturally sparked calls from fans to see Dowman follow in Nwaneri’s footsteps but he will be unable to do so until next season.

Rules state that a player can only make such appearances during the season in which they turn 16. For Dowman, whose birthday is on New Year’s Eve, that means waiting until the 2025/26 campaign, something which has apparently irked Arteta when asked about the pathway to first team minutes for Dowman.

“Well, at the moment, with all the legislation, there are a lot restrictions for your age,” he said. “You know something that in other countries you don't even mention.

“So we'll have to wait and see. Already he is taking very fast steps, because every time we put him in a different challenge, different level, he overcomes that hill very quickly, which is great, we are on it.”

There is a chance that Dowman could be included on the pre-season tour. He joined the group in Dubai for their mid-season warm weather training camp and in March Declan Rice explained how he was acting as something as a mentor to Dowman, Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly.

"I have a great relationship with all three of them, because Max gets to train with us quite a lot," Rice told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"I have kind of taken these three under my wing, because I have been in that position before and I had older players help me out.

"I get on well with all of them and they are really comfortable around me, which is all part of having a good relationship."