Arsenal open to loaning out 16-year-old Dowman after Carabao Cup brace stirs Luton interest

Arsenal are open to sending teenage winger Max Dowman out on loan, Mikel Arteta confirmed on Friday, after the 16-year-old marked his first appearance of the season with a brace in the Gunners’ 4-2 Carabao Cup victory at Ipswich.

Luton manager Jack Wilshere — a former Arsenal midfielder — is reported to have spoken directly with Arteta about bringing Dowman to his League One side on a temporary basis. Dowman becomes eligible for a loan move when he turns 17 on 31 December, with the January transfer window opening the following day.

Arteta was careful to frame any decision around the player’s development rather than a firm commitment either way. “We will evaluate every six months where we are and what is the best thing for him to do and then make the right decision,” the Spaniard said. “It depends on a lot of factors — what he needs, and what the team needs as well, the availability we have in the squad, the minutes that he is playing and the qualities of those minutes. We have to be open, but now the focus is to be here and to impact the team.”

Arteta drew on his own career as a reference point when asked whether Dowman might be too young to leave. “In my particular case, I was 17 when I went to Paris,” he said. “It depends on the atmosphere that you find there, and how much the coach believes in you — whether you go there just to be part of a squad or play minutes. But now he is in a good place, let’s keep him here.”

The situation echoes that of Ethan Nwaneri, another Arsenal academy product who joined Marseille on loan last January at 18 before being sent to Borussia Dortmund for the current season. Arteta had described that move as Nwaneri needing to “swim with the sharks.”

Dowman is in contention for a first Premier League appearance of the campaign when Arsenal travel to Brighton, where they will look to preserve their 100 per cent league record. Arteta, however, made clear that consistent training-ground performances remain the surest route to selection. “The best way to knock on the door is to do it on the pitch, not in the office,” he said. “When a player delivers constantly on the pitch, every single day in training, that’s the best way — that’s the best signal for the manager.”