Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker can’t help but get excited about Arsenal star Max Dowman following the teenager’s “incredible” performance in the Gunners’ Carabao Cup win over Brighton on Wednesday.
The 15-year-old was given his first senior start against the Seagulls as fellow Hale End academy product Ethan Nwaneri and Bukayo Saka secured victory for Mikel Arteta’s side and set up their quarter-final encounter with Crystal Palace in December.
And Gary Lineker praised Dauman while sharing some of the game’s statistics on his podcast, The Rest Is Football.
“Max Daumann completed the most dribbles, scored the most fouls and won the most duels at the age of 15. It was really good,” he said.
“It’s unbelievable. He (Arteta) obviously has to get the balance right between playing and defending, but to go on that stage at 15 and play and just look the right way is amazing. He looks like he belongs there.”
Lineker continued by quoting Arteta’s comments about the teenager in his post-match press conference. “I think people think they have a generational talent. Maybe England have found a talent. But you have to be a little hesitant, don’t develop him too much…”
Then Shearer interjected: “But we can’t not talk about him, Gaz. We have to.”
Lineker added: “Yeah, you can’t do that, it’s like Ramin Yamal, we talked about him when he was 15, 16 years old. When you have someone as exciting and talented as Max Dauman, let’s talk about him. Ultimately, how well he does will be determined by how he handles this situation. And he seems like a mature person beyond his years.”
“He has to face fame at a very early age, which is not easy, but we have experienced that with young talents. It will be very interesting to follow his career and see how Arteta deals with him. As with anything, if he is that good, he will find a way to play him.”
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The trio then discussed how impressive Arsenal were after Arteta made 10 changes to his starting XI.
Lineker said: “He (Arteta) rotated quite a bit, which shows the depth Arsenal have now. I thought Brighton showed a good fist, especially in the first half. Kepa came on and made one or two great saves, but they won again.”
Richards said: “They’ve changed the whole back four too. Look at this. The second defender, Ben White, Mosquera, Hincapie, Miles Lewis-Skelly. That’s second choice in the back four. That’s ridiculous. Arsenal are really on to something now.”
