One of the great points about Arsenal giving Max Dowman outings with the first team in the pre-season tour, is often overlooked in commentaries, but it is real all the same. And it is the impact this has on other young up-and-coming players.
For every season, young players hope to get signed by one of the bigger clubs – but the attraction of each of the different clubs is not just based on how big they are in the world of football. It is also based on how likely they are to give a young player a real chance.
And “give the youngsters a chance” is what Arsenal are doing, year after year as the current squad list shows. Thus the benefit to Arsenal of this approach is not only multiple, it is expansive. First, Arsenal are seen as a club that will give young players a chance. If you are good enough, you’ll get into the squad, is what all clubs say – but Arsenal are visibly demonstrating this to be true in a way that most clubs are not.
As a result, more and more young players are looking at Arsenal as a club which could aid their development, and so more and more seek to join the Arsenal youth teams.
This in itself ups the quality of those teams and raises the competitive bar higher and higher. Thus, the benefit for Arsenal is that this brings in new talent, which in other circumstances might be lost to other clubs. Second, it means Arsenal are in effect signing players for no transfer fee – players who in a few years’ time would cost multiple millions on the open market.
This in turn, means that Arsenal then get the reputation of the go-to club for talented youngsters. The family, the coaches, the school, and the players themselves look at Arsenal, see a couple of teenagers coming through the ranks and even reaching the level of playing internationals in their age group, and they think: Arsenal are doing this.So where do they choose to go? A club with no history of bringing young players into the team, but which sends them out on loan to lower division sides, or Arsenal, a club which will nurture the young players themselves?
Obviously, the answer is the latter. And this has been an important development because for years, there has been a general sneering by the media of all things Arsenal. The top clubs, we are told, are in the north west, not in London. But self-evidently the top club for bringing young players through is indeed not just in London, but in north London.And this is not just a story being picked up by Arsenal-supporting blogs – it is turning up in the international media too. As a result, across Europe the story is out there – the club that develops young talent and gives the youngsters a chance to shine is Arsenal.
And of course, there is a real benefit in this to Arsenal, because not only are they getting more and more brilliant young players to choose from, they are not having to pay out transfer fees. And if ultimately the young player is a success, but then sadly has his head turned towards another club by desperate promises of fame and glory within a club that has lost its way, then that too only helps Arsenal’s image among young players and their agents. Stick with Arsenal and you’ll have the best chance, is the message. And if Arsenal can’t fit you into their squad, you’ll get a transfer which will earn you an extra pay packet the rest of the world can only dream about. And which incidentally does no harm to Arsenal’s profit and loss account.
So it is must be for Max Dowman; he’s seen others make it into the first team at a very young age at Arsenal, and he sees the club challenging at he top of the league. That is where he wants to be. So 25 minutes against AC Milan and 31 minutes against Newcastle is not just wonderful news for him, it is also the perfect advert for Arsenal’s academy. “If you are good enough,” it says, “you’ll get your chance.”
And of course, that chance is not just with the first team, for Max Downman is the youngest goalscorer in the history of the Under-19 Champions League. “With Arsenal, the message is, you will always get your chance if you are good enough.
And amazingly, Max Dowman will not be the youngest player in history to play in the Premier League if he plays on August 17 (a clash against Manchester United). That’s because Ethan Nwaneri played aged 15 years and 181 days in Arsenal’s 3-0 win at Brentford.
And you’ll perhaps remember how all the media sneered at the “publicity stunt”. Maybe it was, but if so, it was a stunt with a purpose. It said to all young players, if you are good enough, then at Arsenal you will get your chance. Hence the queue of youngsters to join Arsenal’s youth teams just gets bigger and bigger.
