Arsenal wonderkid Max Dowman breaks decade-old England record

Tom Weber

• 14 Oct 2025 11:04 CDT
• 4 min read

News

Arsenal wonderkid Max Dowman has become the first 15-year-old to score for England's U19s after netting in a 7-0 thrashing of Wales on Tuesday.

The teenage prodigy is going from strength to strength after establishing himself as a regular member of Mikel Arteta's senior squad over the summer.

Having impressed massively in pre-season, the academy prospect was handed his Premier League debut in a 5-0 victory over Leeds in August, aged 15 years and 235 days. He thus became the second-youngest player in the division's history behind teammate Ethan Nwaneri.

Given his age - the youngster is not allowed to get dressed with the first-team squad yet and has to be supervised - Arsenal are managing his minutes. He has to date made two Premier League appearances and also featured against Port Vale in the EFL Cup.

He has been moving between the first team and the U21s for the Gunners this season. At the international level, Dowman has not yet reached the U21s and is instead plying his trade with the U19s.

Dowman scores first England U19s goal

After playing 23 minutes in a 4-1 win over Belgium on Saturday, Dowman was a starter against Wales at midday on Tuesday, lasting 67 minutes. 10 minutes into the second half, the 15-year-old scored his first goal for England at the U19 level en route to a 7-0 rout.

In doing so, he became not only the youngest player to ever score for the Young Lions at this level, but he also became the first 15-year-old to achieve this feat.

Fulham full-back Ryan Sessegnon held the previous record for almost a decade after scoring in a 2-0 victory over Luxembourg in November 2016. The now-25-year-old started alongside the likes of Aaron Ramsdale, Trevoh Chalobah and Trent Alexander-Arnold back then.

Divine Mukasa (Manchester City), Trey Nyoni (Liverpool), Jesse Derry (Chelsea), Mikey Moore (Tottenham, on loan at Rangers), Shumaira Mheuka (Chelsea) and Chris Rigg (Sunderland) joined Dowman on the scoresheet against Wales.

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