Arteta drops big hint on Arsenal wonderkid deal after ‘very positive’ talks

Robin Bairner

Updated: 29 Oct 2025 06:47 GMT
4 min read

Mikel Arteta has revealed promising news for Arsenal fans about teenage prodigy Max Dowman - with the club confident of keeping him despite interest from Europe’s biggest sides

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The 15-year-old, who will celebrate his next birthday on 31 December, is reported to have agreed terms over a new contract, as well as his first professional deal, which would come into force when he turns 17 on the last day of 2026.

Arteta did not go as far as to say such an agreement is in place, but he did indicate that Arsenal are desperate for Dowman to commit himself to the team for the long term.

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Max Dowman

M (C)

Arsenal

Max Dowman

M (C)

Arsenal

6

Games
4

Goals
0

Assists

“That's what we all want and I think what he wants as well, after that it is more for Andrea (Berta, sporting director) and the club," Arteta said in comments relayed by Sky Sports.

"But the feeling that I have is that, genuinely, he loves it here. He is a huge Arsenal supporter and his family are really happy with the way things are developing around him as well.

"Hopefully, for many years, he will be with us. Everything that I hear from the player and the family has been very positive."

Competition for Arsenal

FootballTransfers exclusively revealed that Dowman has caught the eye of several clubs, both in the Premier League and abroad, with Manchester City and Barcelona targeting a move for him.

The midfielder, though, comes from a family of Arsenal fans while the North London side have been confident that they could offer the player the correct structure, pathway and philosophy to maximise his game and to help him thrive under Mikel Arteta.

Insiders at the Emirates Stadium have long seen him as one of the standout talents for his age group and a potential homegrown star of the future, much in the mould of Bukayo Saka or Ethan Nwaneri, both of whom have graduated from Arsenal’s Hale End Academy to become regular figures in Arteta’s first team.

Arteta on Dowman challenge

Arteta has previously spoken about the complications of integrating Dowman into the first team at such a young age.

Prior to the Carabao Cup win over Port Vale as he said: “We need to change his times, his education, his allocation, where he is with his family. His diet is different, his sleep pattern is different, the training load is different. The amount of information, pressure and exposure is different, so we have to manage a lot of factors.

“When you add a lot of minutes with different teams, we need to be cautious and very careful. That’s what we are trying to do to find that balance to keep Max as connected as possible to the first team, but we need the right mixture of minutes like the other day with the Under-21s.”

Dowman is expected to sign an initial two-year deal with Arsenal, with the teenager hoping for more minutes as Arsenal face Brighton in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.

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