Tuchel criticised for Arsenal snub as actual child ‘protected’ from unknown England dangers | OneFootball

Considering Andy Dunn wrote after a very good 77 minutes against League One side Mansfield of Max Dowman that ‘it was hard not to envisage him in a full England jersey,’ it comes as no surprise that he continues to drive this bandwagon at full speed after the Arsenal teenager’s heroics against Everton.

Dowman was sensational in a 16-minute cameo in that game and remains a phenomenally gifted prospect. But here we are again asking precisely why calling him up right now ‘is an opportunity Tuchel should not miss’?

(Well done) he’s 16. The chance to bring Dowman into the fold will probably come around again. The German thankfully agreed and decided against naming him in a 35-strong squad on Friday morning.

But on Thursday evening, there Dunn was again making an unnecessary comparison with the unique case of Lamine Yamal?

Dunn opens by quoting Spain manager Luis de la Fuente’s justification for bringing Yamal into his squad at 16 years and 50 days old – “we look at the ability of the player, not the age. He is ready to compete at the highest level. He is a very important asset for the future. He is different” – and equating it to the case of Dowman at 16 years and 79 days old.

But it feels like some key considerations are omitted there: Yamal was called up in September 2023, a full ten months out from the next major international tournament, while Dunn is advocating so heavily for Dowman to be brought into the last England camp before they name their squad for a World Cup – and in the nation’s most-stocked position for options.

Yamal was also being courted by Morocco at the time, so his call-up was at least partially influenced by an international allegiance situation which just doesn’t exist with Dowman.

And sure, Yamal had 182 minutes of senior football then, but almost all of that was in La Liga and included a couple of starts. The majority of Dowman’s 236 minutes have come in the early rounds of the FA and League Cup, with 43 and 18 minutes in the Premier and Champions League respectively – and zero starts.

But Dunn is absurdly committed to dying on this hill:

Because pointing at the successful adaptation of one generationally gifted 16-year-old to senior football and insisting it is now the only path for every brilliant player of that age is really bloody weird. Yamal being incredible feels far more like an exception to the rule rather than proof of it needing to be followed at every possible juncture.

These next paragraphs are perhaps the most revealing:

It’s more about Dowman really. You know, the 16-year-old.

The glib examples are cute but if you’re asking what ‘exactly’ a boy who turned 16 three months ago needs to be ‘protected’ from when progressing into playing football at an elite level for his club and country having only made his senior debut six months ago, you might have entirely lost the plot.

It’s either that or Dunn is being wilfully ignorant about the physical implications and mental risks inherent in introducing a 16-year-old to the highest possible stage of professional sport without taking care and being wary about the ludicrous pressures they will endure, rather than just saying ‘well this 16-year-old hasn’t broken down yet so shall we just chuck them all in at the deep end and see what happens?’.

As a member of the media which plays a significant part in applying those pressures, even inadvertently, Dunn should know better.

That he closes his article by stating that ‘Dowman can be for Tuchel what Yamal was for De la Fuente’ does rather suggest that Dunn has simply taken leave of his senses.

As Tuchel himself said in August: “We need to be careful and hopefully everyone does everything with a parental view to protect them, and to not burn them in all this excitement. We need to make sure that we don’t put the pressure up if at some point comes a moment when it gets a little bit more difficult. But think about what I already tried to explain you when I called Myles up, Myles Lewis-Skelly, we had a long, long discussion, and it was almost in a parental atmosphere, like can we really do this, do we accelerate this career onto international level, is this not too much for him? And basically right now we see that it is not so easy to keep the momentum going for Myles at the moment, which is totally understandable.”

It is also funny that Dunn cites the words of De la Fuente from three years ago plenty, but there’s not a single quote from Mikel Arteta, slightly more relevant in the specific case of Dowman, saying: “If we just bring the temperature down and understand what is the best thing for this boy at his age. He’s doing something phenomenal, we all know that. Let’s keep it down a little bit and respect his nature to do what he has to do, which I’m sure is going to be something really good.”

Nah, f*** that. Get him on the plane. Even if his manager at club level and prospective coach on the international scene are woke nerds who want to “protect” an actual child.