Max Dowman joins Bukayo Saka, Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly in exhibiting Arsenal’s Hale Finish academy is their largest asset

The Emirates Stadium crackled with anticipation each time the ball arrived on the toes of Max Dowman. As in Arsenal’s pre-season video games, his team-mates made a concerted effort to place it there. It’s straightforward to grasp why. The 15-year-old is a particular expertise.

Dowman grew to become the second-youngest participant in Premier League historical past along with his introduction in opposition to Leeds, an enormous achievement in itself. However most outstanding is that, in addition to being Arsenal’s youngest participant, he as soon as once more seemed their most harmful.

Leeds couldn’t comprise him. The drop of the shoulder to win Arsenal’s late penalty capped an exciting debut. On a day of theatre, of unveilings, accidents and first targets, it was Dowman, a schoolboy nonetheless 4 months shy of his sixteenth birthday, who stole the present.

“That is what we see each single day in coaching,” smiled Mikel Arteta afterwards. It’s one thing else, although, to do it on this stage. “He’s so satisfied that he can go at 15 and ship that, which I by no means witnessed in my life,” added the Arsenal supervisor.

Dowman may be Arsenal’s most enjoyable academy product but. He actually seems uniquely prepared for the step up at his age. However he’s simply the most recent participant off the membership’s manufacturing line lately.

Hale Finish continues to ship.

Within the closing phases of Saturday’s sport, Dowman was one in every of three teenaged academy graduates on the pitch for Arsenal together with Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly, each of whom are already established at senior degree, relative veterans at 18.

Bukayo Saka, an inspiration to all three having develop into a talismanic determine for the membership and its youth set-up, had earlier scored the second aim earlier than being pressured off injured. In new signing Eberechi Eze, there was one other former Hale Ender watching on.

Eze is totally different, in fact, in that he needed to go away, aged 13, to make it at senior degree. However his linked previous makes his return all of the extra intoxicating to the membership’s supporters. He was greeted on Saturday as a boyhood fan in addition to a former academy participant.

Within the matchday programme, Arsenal’s co-chair Josh Kroenke had spoken in regards to the significance of tying Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri to new contracts. “They know what it means to be Arsenal,” he mentioned. So does Eze. The membership is woven into his DNA too.

“It brings pleasure, it brings emotion,” mentioned Arteta afterwards. He was referencing Dowman’s emergence however the identical will be utilized to any one of many membership’s academy merchandise.

Their prompt bond with the membership and its supporters is in fact just one a part of their providing. Saka, Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly and Dowman, rigorously nurtured by Arsenal since childhood, have added immense high quality to the squad for gratis in switch charges.

At solely 15, Dowman is simply too younger for a valuation. A participant can not command a switch price till he has signed his first skilled contract after turning 16. All that may look ahead to him.

However it’s dizzying to ponder the heights he may attain, and simply how a lot he may deliver to a squad already rated because the world’s second-most useful after that of Actual Madrid.

Arsenal have assembled a bunch of gamers value £1.14bn for switch charges totalling £826m. No different Premier League even comes shut when it comes to producing squad worth relative to price.

It’s largely due to their blossoming academy merchandise.

Saka is now valued at £129.3m by Transfermarkt, reflecting his standing as one of many world’s greatest gamers. Nonetheless solely 23, he stays the jewel within the academy’s crown, his peak years nonetheless to come back.

Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly have some method to go to succeed in Saka’s heights however their trajectories, at 18, aren’t dissimilar. The previous is valued at £48m; the latter £39m. The hope is that they may proceed to develop and develop, and that Dowman will likely be subsequent.

The gamers and their households are in fact the important thing drivers of their success. Collectively, additionally they replicate the superb work of academy director Per Mertesacker and the varied coaches who oversaw their progress by the age teams at Hale Finish.

However additionally they require a supervisor keen to belief them they usually have that in Arteta, whose shut relationship with Mertesacker has helped guarantee alignment between the academy and the senior facet, opening a transparent pathway into the first-team.

For the reason that begin of final season, Arsenal have given extra minutes to gamers aged 18 or below than every other Premier League facet. Even these academy gamers who’ve moved on, corresponding to Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah, have generated worth by their gross sales.

Unusually for a first-team supervisor, Arteta has taken an energetic function in conferences with gamers corresponding to Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly from a younger age, lengthy earlier than they joined the senior squad. However it’s since their promotions that their progress has actually accelerated.

It’s partly all the way down to the publicity however Arteta’s teaching has helped too. Saka was taking part in at full-back when Arteta arrived on the membership however has flourished as a right-sided ahead. Lewis-Skelly, beforehand a central midfielder, has been reinvented as a left-back.

It stays to be seen the place Dowman’s long-term future lies. He has to date been utilized in Saka’s function, reducing inside from the fitting, onto his left foot. However he can even play centrally, both as a No 8 or a No 10.

The chances are tantalising. He’ll in fact have to be protected given his age. Dowman continues to be a 12 months away from sitting his GCSEs. However clearly he has a job to play even within the short-term.

Occasions on the Emirates Stadium on Saturday had been a reminder that Arsenal’s academy is vital to their current in addition to their future.

Sky Sports activities to indicate 215 reside Premier League video games this season

Beginning this season, Sky Sports activities’ Premier League protection will enhance from 128 matches to not less than 215 video games completely reside.

And 80 per cent of all televised Premier League video games this season will likely be proven reside on Sky Sports activities.