Rooney Alaba to Max Dowman: Bright Future at Arsenal, Premier League Revelation

Arsenal’s young footballer, Max Dowman, has become the focus of attention in the football world, and former England captain Wayne Rooney predicts a “huge” future for the promising player after his impressive Premier League debut. Dowman, attacking midfielder, made history by becoming the second youngest player to represent Arsenal. His debut came at the age of 15 years and 234 days, coming on as a substitute in the 5-0 victory over Leeds. The young footballer, in an outstanding performance of 26 minutes, even managed to win a penalty at the end of the match, which was converted by Viktor Gyökeres. Rooney, who debuted with Everton at 16 in 2002, and who was five days away from turning 17 when he became the youngest goalscorer in the Premier League, by scoring an impressive winning goal against Arsenal, commented on Dowman.

Playing at that age in the Premier League is crazy. I know I played when I was young, but I think he’s like 150 days younger than me, or more. For Max and his family and friends, I’m sure they’re all living a dream and a fairy tale and probably haven’t realized it yet. But you can see that his future is very bright, he’s going to have a huge future.

Wayne Rooney

Rooney added: “Everyone you speak to in football, the same name keeps coming up: Max Dowman”. Ethan Nwaneri, Dowman’s teammate, remains the youngest player in Premier League history, after participating in Arsenal’s 3-0 victory against Brentford in September 2022, at 15 years and 181 days old. Rooney, speaking about the challenges of being thrust into the spotlight, said: “It’s surreal. It’s so strange that one minute you’re on the youth team and the next you’re in the first team dressing room with some of your heroes.” “It’s something you really need to get used to quickly because it can be overwhelming. Max Dowman seems like a very sensible guy from everything I’ve seen and you hope he copes and understands what’s coming his way very soon.”