- Rooney reveals son’s praise for Dowman
- 15-year-old made league debut against ليدز
- Impressed during pre-season
Dowman has been making waves over the summer after breaking into Mikel Arteta’s first-team squad as a 15-year-old, impressing with his fleet-footed dribbling and eye for goal. The teenager made his الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز debut during the 5-0 victory over Leeds on Saturday, becoming the second youngest player ever in the division with only team-mate Ethan Nwaneri ahead of him, and had a couple of unsuccessful shots at goal after his 64th-minute introduction.
Rooney himself was a prodigious youngster, breaking onto the scene with إيفرتون before having a highly successful career with مانشستر يونايتد. He was also إنجلترا‘s leading men’s goalscorer before being overtaken by current Three Lions skipper Harry Kane and the 39-year-old has now revealed he got the inside scoop from son Kai when watching the Gunners’ easy win over Leeds.
Speaking on the BBC’s Wayne Rooney Show, the former England captain said: “We were watching the أرسنال game and Dowman comes on and and Kai has played against him, and I said, ‘Is he your age?’ And he went, ‘Yeah’. Kai is two months older than him!
“It’s actually crazy that he’s playing first-team football in the Premier League. He [Kai] just said, ‘You can clearly see he’s a top player.’ And for any young player, you say, you work hard and put the effort in and you never know.
“Sometimes you could be playing Under-15s and next time Under-18s or Premier League.”
Arsenal’s players were keen to set Dowman up for a goal at the weekend. If the teenager were to net in the Premier League this season he would become the division’s youngest ever goalscorer, with the record currently held by James Vaughan who was 16 years and 270 days old when he bagged for Everton in April 2005. Dowman doesn’t turn 16 until New Year’s Eve and has the whole campaign to claim the record.
Amid all the excitement over Dowman, Arsenal have a few fitness concerns ahead of their huge trip to ليفربول on Sunday. Martin Odegaard has a shoulder complaint but could be fit after being named in النرويج‘s squad for the upcoming September international break, but Bukayo Saka could be missing for up to four weeks after suffering a hamstring injury.
