Arteta Praises Dowman But Urges Caution With Arsenal's Teenage Star

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has showered praise on 16-year-old Max Dowman after his brace against Ipswich Town, but says the club needs to handle his rise carefully.

Dowman scored twice as Arsenal beat Ipswich in the third round of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday, becoming just the second 16-year-old in history, after Wayne Rooney, to score multiple goals in a game for a top-flight club.

Asked whether Dowman could become a regular in the Premier League at such a young age, Arteta admitted it's rare but not impossible. "Everything is possible. The probability probably is extremely low, because you don't see the players with the capacity to handle just the physicality of the game," he said. "Not only that, but the demands that you have to put your bodies through in the week to be able to be in a good condition to compete, the amount of information, the challenges that you have to face."

Still, Arteta made clear Dowman is already showing he can handle it. "But he's doing it, and he's doing it really well every time he's got a chance," he said.

Even so, the Arsenal boss stressed that the club has to be careful not to rush the teenager's progress. "What we have to do is look after him, he's 16-years-old, you don't see that in this league. In other leagues in Europe, that's a totally different context," Arteta said. "But in this league, with the demands that the league, the players and everything puts on you, we really need to make sure every time we throw him in, he's in the right context with the right preparation, and that's what we are trying to do."

He added that there's more to managing Dowman than just his raw talent. "We're going to make sure that when we just throw him there, he's ready to handle that at every level, and it's not just that he can run past somebody. There's a lot more things that we need to look after him... the only thing that we have to manage is that he needs to constantly be aware that he needs to be prepared for what he needs to do."

Arteta also touched on areas where Dowman still needs to grow if he's going to take on a bigger role at the club. "His leadership has to increase, his voice has to increase, his role has to increase within the team, in the dressing room. There are a lot of things that you need to grow, but at 16, to already do what he does, it's just incredible," he said.

Dowman's two goals, along with strikes from Noni Madueke and Mikel Merino, helped Arsenal to a 3-0 win over Ipswich and their sixth straight victory across all competitions. With Arsenal chasing success on multiple fronts this season, Dowman could well get plenty more chances to shine.