Arteta reveals Dowman’s reaction to first Arsenal start | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta revealed Max Dowman’s reaction to making his first competitive start for Arsenal.

The teenager became the youngest ever player to start a competitive match for Arsenal at just 15 years old in Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Brighton.

Arteta was asked about how the young star reacted to being told the news that he would be starting the match

“A tiny smile,” he said “That’s what you get with him. For him everything is natural, for him everything is okay, it’s the way he plays.

“I think that’s the secret, that he doesn’t make a big fuss of it, he just does what he does best, which is to play football, to play football with a lot of courage and determination, and today again he’s shown some incredible skill, some capacity to run past players at that level in the Premier League at 15.

“It’s something definitely special.”

Even though Arteta says that he wants to start in more games, he emphasised the importance of protecting the forward.

“For sure, if you ask him, for sure. That’s what we have to manage and not only that, there’s a lot of things that are new in his life, we discussed that I think a few days ago.

“Make sure that he does the right steps, that he behaves and accepts because this is going to go this one, then he’s going to play in a different team, and he needs to cope with all that because it’s happening very, very fast, and we all need to be aware of that.

“Let’s encourage him to keep going that way, but let’s protect him as well.”