Jack Wilshere offers honest Max Dowman verdict with Arsenal open to loan exit

Jack Wilshere has sung the praises of Arsenal wonderkid Max Dowman - with even his dad claiming he is better than the former Gunners star. Dowman, 16, enjoyed a standout breakout season last term as he made 13 first-team appearances and scored once.

The youngster collected a host of records along the way as he became the youngest Premier League winner, Arsenal’s youngest ever starter, the youngest ever Champions League player and the youngest player to have started in the Premier League.

Fellow academy graduate Wilshere has claimed that Dowman’s talent was evident early on, with his own dad even claiming that the youngster was better than the former midfielder.

"Max played for my 18s team when he was 13," Wilshere said in an interview with BBC Sport. "I remember calling my dad because I played for the 18s when I was 14. I was like, 'was 13 too young?'

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"In the first game we could clearly see that he was ready for it. And I remember calling my dad and saying, 'you need to come watch this kid'. My dad did, and my dad's very biased, as you could imagine. But even he said, 'he's better than you'."

Dowman has continued his development this season, having shone and scored twice in a Carabao Cup win against Ipswich Town and it has been suggested that the North London side are open to a loan move. Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has been key to Dowman’s progression, while Wilshere has hailed him as a huge influence on his own fledgling managerial career.

"I got to see Mikel and how he coached and the influence he was having," he added. "I would ask him questions, why he's doing certain things, and I started to fall in love with it and how he started to prepare training sessions.

"I'd get an opportunity to practice that with the 18s in the afternoon and it was something I wasn't that good at, and I felt uncomfortable at times.

"I was influenced by Mikel, but then I had to learn how to teach. I had to learn how to get that across, how to plan a session and how to get the outcomes that you wanted.

"I played under some good coaches and was quite good at understanding what a coach wants, but I never dived into 'why is he asking me to do that?' Mikel really made that clear and I was lucky enough to have a relationship where I could say, 'well, why do you want that?' And he was open enough to share it with me."