Arsenal were finally able to end their two-decade wait for the Premier League title last season, in a campaign which threw up more than its fair share of subplots.
Among the new signings, the redemption arcs and moments of personal glory was the story of 16-year-old Max Dowman, who became the youngest goalscorer in Premier League history when he netted against Everton, before becoming the competition’s youngest-ever winner.
Gunners icon Paul Merson has been particularly impressed by Dowman's emergence.
Pick the ultimate 4-4-2 line-up from players in FourFourTwo's definitive Top 100 List
Paul Merson on Max Dowman’s rise
Dowman was just 16 years old and 73 days when he scored a late breakaway goal to seal a crucial win over the Toffees in March, ahead of a summer which saw him claim a Premier League winner’s medal before collecting his GCSE results.
And for Merson, the teenager’s rise is barely believable.
“Dowman, in football terms, is a freak, and I mean that in the utmost respect,” Merson exclaims to FourFourTwo. “If he was in a book, you'd throw the book in the sea.
“If you were sitting reading about a 16-year-old kid who plays for Arsenal in the Premier League and scores against Everton, you’d just go ‘Oh, that’s never happening, who could be that good at 16?’”
Dowman clocked up 13 appearances for the Gunners last season and has represented England up to under-19 level, becoming that side’s youngest-ever scorer when he struck in a 7-0 win over Wales in October 2025.
Naturally, Dowman’s meteoric rise has left fans wondering just how far he will go, with Merson daring to believe he could match some of the game’s very best.
“He could be a generational great like Gazza or Rooney, who come along once in a blue moon,” Merson continues.
But it’s not just Dowman who has caught Merson’s eye when it comes to the club’s Hale End academy pipeline.
“And Myles Lewis-Skelly,” Merson continues. “He got in the team at the start at left-back. To then play in midfield and play the way he did, I’m pleased for him because that takes a lot.
“I’m a big fan of his. I like him more in midfield, if I’m being honest.”
