Max Dowman at Arsenal: What next for teenager – how to look after a precious talent?’

Having a run in the first team at such a young age does not mean that future progress will not be without potential setbacks.

Myles Lewis-Skelly broke into the Gunners team last season at the age of 18, and played and scored for England.

But this season, he has only started once in the Premier League – although he is a regular in the Champions League.

Arsenal winger Ethan Nwaneri is the only player to make his Premier League debut at a younger age than Dowman (15 years and 181 days – 54 days younger than his team-mate).

Last season, aged 17, he scored nine times in 37 appearances for the Gunners, but he joined Marseille on loan in January after struggling for game time this term.

Ward says Dowman’s family “have to get used to is the milestones of disappointment”.

“It’s important for the parents to handle it properly, to realise this could end at some point because of injury,” she said.

“There might be a point where he doesn’t get as much game time so he has to play for the under-21s or 23s. It’s how you then cope with that.

“To be fair to Arteta, when he played Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly, it was a necessity because they had injuries. That experience helped Arteta because you have to be a really brave manager to play a kid.

“For Arsenal it’s about managing the ups and downs, because it’s not a straight line. Hopefully that won’t be the best thing to happen to him as a player, but for plenty of players that has been the best thing in their career.”

Many of the players in the youngest 10 Premier League goalscorers ever went on to have hugely successful careers including James Milner, Wayne Rooney, Cesc Fabregas and Michael Owen.

But James Vaughan, the previous record holder before Dowman, spent the majority of his career in the EFL and retired aged 32 at League Two Tranmere.

“I don’t think it’s possible to stay fearless,” Vaughan told Sky Sports in 2021., external “As you become a first-team player regularly there’s people’s wages, jobs and careers on the line.

“You know you’re responsible for part of that, and you have to take that responsibility on. But as a kid you don’t have that so you can just go out and play and enjoy your football.”