Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has not ruled out loaning out Max Dowman in the future and says the club evaluates the 16-year-old sensation's progress every six months.
Dowman continued his rise by starting and scoring twice in Arsenal's Carabao Cup win over Ipswich this week. After the game, Gunners midfielder Mikel Merino compared the young teenager to Barcelona and Spain star Lamine Yamal.
But those 90 minutes at Portman Road have been Dowman's only minutes of the season, and he did not make Arsenal's matchday squad in the wins over Aston Villa and Sunderland.
"We haven't really listened to any of the [loan] possibilities because we were clear that we want to have him in the squad, that we wanted him to be part of the pre-season," Arteta said.
"I'm going to start to see where we are from there. We will evaluate every six months where we are, what is the best thing for him to do and from there make the right decisions.
"It will depend on a lot of factors: what he needs, where the team is as well, the availability that we have in the squad, the amount of minutes that he's playing, the quality he's delivering when he's got those minutes.
"We have to be open, but now the focus is to be here and impact the team.
"There have been many cases of that age that they've gone [on loan] and they've been successful, some others not. Particularly, I think I was 17 when I went to Paris [Saint-Germain].
"Depending on the atmosphere that you find there, how much the coach believes in you, you go there just to be part of a squad, not to play minutes.
"Which country? Depends. But now he's in a great place. He's in a good place right now and let's keep him here."
Last season, Dowman became the Premier League's youngest goalscorer and starter in their title-winning campaign, as well as the youngest player in Champions League history, where they reached the final.
Over the last nine months, the Gunners have sent Ethan Nwaneri - who broke the record for the youngest ever Premier League player in 2022 at just 15 - out on loan to Marseille and Borussia Dortmund, where he is currently playing.
Jay Bothroyd on Your Site News:
"Noni Madueke is not playing for Arsenal. For me, Max Dowman is better than Madueke now.
"If you're going to consider Madueke for England, then you definitely have to consider Dowman. And Dowman should be in that England squad right now. There's no doubt about that for me.
"He's going to be the future of England. He's 16 but this is his second season as a pro. Come the European Championships in 2028, he's going to be 18. He has to be in that squad and if he keeps doing what he's doing, he's going to be in that squad.
"What's the negative? If you're good enough, you're old enough. Professional players think a certain way. They're not thinking: I'm 16, I'll wait a few years. They're thinking I want to play right now, especially if they're thinking they're better than who's in there.
"Dowman needs to be considered, he's the future. The same as how Rio Ngumoha is the future, who is electric."
