Myles Lewis-Skelly shares what is truly amazing about Max Dowman off the pitch

Max Dowman tends to let his performances on the pitch do the talking.

Two goals against Ipswich in the Carabao Cup, matching a 24-year Wayne Rooney record, and a performance that had fans comparing the 16-year-old to Lionel Messi, of all people.

He is the most talked-about teenager in English football, which is probably quite a lot to deal with when you’re still at the age where someone can reasonably tell you to tidy your room.

But what Myles Lewis-Skelly has shared about what Dowman is like away from the pitch is so encouraging.

Speaking to Sky Sports, the Arsenal midfielder was asked whether he can play a role in helping Dowman break through, given how it wasn’t long ago when he made the same journey from the academy himself.

“Max is someone that wants to be helped, wants to be coached,” Lewis-Skelly said. “So if someone is willing to take on information, of course I can help.

“And Max is an amazing person first and foremost before the football, before everything. He’s just a nice boy. So I would love to help him out and I know that I do help him out.”

You could construct a pretty hefty list of hyped-up talented teenagers who never fulfilled their potential. Ability is one thing but what separates the players who make it from those who don’t is often attitude.

Are they willing to be coached and take information on? Do they apply themselves properly? Do they prepare and recover properly? Are they hungry and motivated but still grounded and humble? Thankfully with Dowman, all the signs point towards a player who does exactly all of those things.

Mikel Arteta has built a culture where standards are everything, and even someone as talented as Dowman won’t be given special privileges. He’ll have to buy in to the defensive side of the game.

But by Lewis-Skelly’s account of the player, he wants to learn, and he listens, and is ultimately just a nice lad. Opposition defences might not think he’s very nice though.