Arteta open-minded over Dowman loan as interest grows
Mikel Arteta says Arsenal are open to loaning Max Dowman in the future, although every approach for the 16-year-old has so far been rebuffed.
The attacking midfielder turns 17 on 31 December and will therefore be eligible to move when the January transfer window opens. Luton Town, managed by Dowman’s former youth-team coach Jack Wilshere, have already been linked with a move, but any decision will be based on the teenager’s progress and the opportunities available to him at the Emirates.
By January, of course, he may have made himself untouchable. Dowman already has three goals and an assist from 14 senior appearances, while his performance in last week’s 4-2 win over Ipswich suggested he has the talent to challenge more established players for minutes.
In his pre-Brighton press conference, Arteta explained: “We haven’t really listened to any of the possibilities because we were crystal clear that we wanted to have Max in the squad, that we wanted him to be part of the pre-season and then start to see where we are from there.
“We will evaluate every six months where we are and what is the best thing for him to do and then make the right decision.
“It depends on a lot of factors,” he continued. “What he needs, and what the team needs as well, the availability we have in the squad, the minutes that he is playing and the quality of those minutes.
“We have to be open, but now the focus is to be here and to impact the team.”
A loan move at such a young age can be difficult to navigate, although there have been plenty of success stories. Wilshere himself joined Bolton Wanderers for six months in 2010, made 14 appearances at the Reebok Stadium and returned ready to become a mainstay of Arsene Wenger’s midfield the following season.
Arteta also left Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain in 2000, when he was only 17, and found himself in a squad featuring Ronaldinho, Jay-Jay Okocha and Nicolas Anelka. Not a bad group to learn from, assuming you could get hold of the ball.
On the other hand, Ethan Nwaneri’s spell at Marseille last season proved less fruitful, although he was hardly helped by joining a club that promptly plunged itself into difficulty.
“There have been many cases at that age, that [players] have gone and they’ve been successful. Some others not,” reflected the manager.
“My particular case, I think I was 17 when I went to Paris. Depending on the atmosphere that you find there, how much the coach believes in you, [whether] you go there just to be part of a squad, not to play minutes. Which country depends.
“But now he’s in a great place. He’s in a good place right now, and let’s keep him here.”
On Dowman benefiting from his current surroundings, he added: “When you see how those [senior] players behave daily, you know the level of attention they put into any detail, the way they look after themselves, the standard that they set. If you become part of that environment, that’s only going to raise your level. It’s going to educate you in a way that becomes normal, and then you will hit another level because then you will be able to add to that. That’s where Max is at the moment.”
Dowman is not the only teenager in and around the Arsenal first team. Centre-back Marli Salmon has only just turned 17, while a revolving cast of other under-18s train with the senior squad on a regular basis. Such is Myles Lewis-Skelly’s maturity, it is easy to forget that he is still a teenager, although he turns 20 next week [until then…insert your own joke here].
Arteta admits he is acutely aware of how he communicates with the young players in his care, while still expecting them to meet the standards demanded of the wider group.
“When it comes to somebody that has the age of any of my sons, that’s another kind of responsibility. Because you’ve been there, because you know what it means, because you can think and process what you are about to tell him from a father’s perspective.
“And you can never forget that, because the influence that you can have for many hours, or the language that you use, or the way that you communicate with them, is part of their education.”
“And then have a really good connection with their environment, especially with their parents, and understand what they expect from us, what we expect from them as well, so we are all aligned in the same boat and making sure that the players get a very clear message, a lot of support, but as well the right level of demands.
“Because if he’s here, he has to be here with all conditions, and you cannot treat him differently in many aspects.”
Another complication in the development of young talent is the increase in moves between academies. For years, an “uneasy truce” existed between the ‘Big Six’ clubs, who unofficially agreed not to pinch each other’s players. Those days now appear to be over.
Before Brexit, English clubs could recruit European passport holders from the age of 16. With that route closed and the available talent pool reportedly shrinking by 95 per cent, attention has turned towards players developed in the British Isles.
Given how difficult it is to make it as a professional, heads are naturally turned by the promise of lucrative contracts and clearer opportunities elsewhere. Arsenal lost talented prospects Kyran Thompson and Mishel Nduke this summer, but were also very active themselves, recruiting youngsters from Manchester United, Crystal Palace and Liverpool.
“It is challenging because there are a lot of parties there and the way the system is at the top, it’s not easy,” admitted Arteta.
“There are certain moments in those years when there are gaps where those big decisions need to be made, and they have the choice to make that decision as well.
“Sometimes it’s not only what we want to do, it’s what the player, agent or family wants to do at times as well. That’s not easy, but we’ll for sure try to keep the best talent in-house.”
That is the balancing act for Arsenal. They must protect a pathway for their own youngsters while ensuring the most gifted are challenged at the right level. Dowman looks increasingly capable of finding that challenge at the Emirates, which may save everyone the trouble of discussing Luton again in January.
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