Who is Max Dowman? The 15-year-old prodigy making a splash for Arsenal

We could be hearing the name 'Max Dowman' a lot over the next few years.

The Arsenal youngster has been the talk of the Emirates Stadium for some time as a potential wonderkid in the making after his rapid ascent through the club's academy.

Plenty of youngsters get talked up and can never quite live up to the hype...but Dowman's first outings for the first-team this summer have only created yet more excitement about his potential.

Who is Max Dowman?

Born in Chelmsford, creative attacking midfielder Dowman has been on the fast track for Arsenal for a couple of years now.

Dowman was playing under-18s football for the Gunners at age 13 and last year claimed the record as the UEFA Youth League's youngest-ever goalscorer at age 14 playing for the U19s.

In December, still aged just 14, Dowman toppled another record as he robbed Ethan Nwaneri of his claim to be the youngest Arsenal player to appear for their U21s side when he appeared in a Premier League 2 (PL2) game against Brighton.

Mikel Arteta drafted Dowman into first-team training shortly thereafter as Arsenal prepared to take on Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup.

Arteta has now taken the next logical step in accelerating Dowman through the club's academy by including him in the first-team squad for his side's summer friendlies.

After appearing from the bench against Milan, Dowman came on for half an hour against Newcastle United in Singapore on Sunday and well and truly announced himself to the world with a scintillating showing.

Capable of playing anywhere across the attacking line but most at home at number 10, Dowman took on Bukayo Saka's berth on the right-wing and turned Newcastle players inside out.

As the Evening Standard wrote: "There were Cruyff turns, mazy runs and an air of complete self-assuredness from the youngster. He had Joelinton's number from the moment he came on, and drew a foul from the Brazilian to earn Arsenal a late penalty."

England have taken a similar approach to Dowman's progress, moving him through the U16s to feature him at last summer's U17 Euros.

With such prodigious talent in his feet, it's easy to see why Arteta is keen to bring Dowman into the first team fold as soon as possible - just as Barcelona did with Lamine Yamal, who had only just turned 16 when he became a first team regular in 2023 and is already recognised as one of the world's best players at 18.

Dowman is however now too old to break another of Nwaneri's records, as the Premier League's youngest player.

Arsenal's Premier League season kicks off on Sunday, August 17, so even if Dowman were to appear in that game, he would be 15 years and 229 days old. Nwaneri was a full 58 days younger when he first appeared against Brentford in September 2022.

Dowman is also just a single day shy of potentially becoming the first Premier League player to be born in the 2010s, having been born on December 31, 2009.