England: Thomas Tuchel reveals 'responsibility' for Max Dowman and makes Myles Lewis-Skelly comparison

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Evening Standard

·20 March 2026

England: Thomas Tuchel reveals 'responsibility' for Max Dowman and makes Myles Lewis-Skelly comparison

Clamour for the Gunners wonderkid’s inclusion has been met with some calls for caution

Thomas Tuchel says he feels “parental responsibility” for Max Dowman, despite leaving the door open to him making a late play for England’s World Cup squad.

The England manager has likened the rise of 16-year-old Dowman to that of his Arsenal team-mate Myles Lewis-Skelly, who scored the first goal of Tuchel’s reign when he netted against Albania on his international debut aged 18. Tuchel admits Lewis-Skelly is now enduring a “difficult time”.

Friday saw Dowman miss out on a place in Tuchel’s 35-man squad for friendlies against Uruguay and Japan despite plenty of clamouring for the teenager to be included after he became the Premier League’s youngest goalscorer last weekend against Everton.

Tuchel would not rule out Dowman sneaking into his 26-man World Cup squad, saying: “We always have the chance to call him for the World Cup.”

Asked to explain why Dowman going to the World Cup is not a non-starter, Tuchel said to reporters: “Why wouldn't I keep the door open? I keep the door open for anyone with any age. Why wouldn't I take the last decision? I learned this as a coach, you take the last decision?”

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Tuchel also hailed Rio Ngumoha, the 17-year-old attacker making a name for himself with Liverpool. Dowman is even less experienced, having played just 43 minutes in the Premier League and 18 minutes in the Champions League.

“It's March and we leave in June, we have to name our squad in late May, so everything is possible,” Tuchel said.

Thomas Tuchel announced his 35-man England squad for upcoming friendlies on Friday

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Reminded that it was considered highly controversial when Sven-Goran Eriksson picked a 16-year-old Theo Walcott for the 2006 World Cup, Tuchel admitted: “It's very young, yeah, and there are arguments that it's too young.

“But let him fight for his minutes. At the moment he's not a regular starter, you could argue you should be maybe a starter at your club to be considered [for England].

“Of course, it's impressive what he's doing. It's impressive the feedback I get from players and people who know him.”

Tuchel went on to explain that comparisons with Lamine Yamal and Lionel Messi, also early starters, are not fair because they had both played significantly more senior football than Dowman has before they were picked for their countries at senior level.

Dowman is expected to spend this month with England’s Under-19s.

The World Cup will have finished before Dowman receives his GCSE results, and the England head coach was asked whether talk about a player quite so young made him uncomfortable about the clamour.

Dowman become the Premier League’s youngest-ever goalscorer when he found the net for Arsenal against Everton on March 14

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“A little bit, because I feel almost parental responsibility about it,” he said. “It was a bit the same discussion with Myles Lewis-Skelly, who was flying at Arsenal.

“I remember watching [Lewis-Skelly] at the Bernabeu and thinking: ‘How is this possible?’, ‘How can you play with no experience at all?’ Now he is entering that difficult time. We had the discussion with him, if we call him up, and straight away he scored for us. So, we have to be careful and responsible.

Tuchel added: “I know that it’s difficult because [Dowman] puts himself up there with all this quality. I hear he has the best surroundings around him and the best support system around him. I would prefer not to talk too much about him because I feel it just doesn’t help.”