{"id":38218,"date":"2025-07-26T07:22:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T07:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/38218\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T07:22:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T07:22:08","slug":"rio-ferdinand-pleads-with-arteta-as-arsenal-star-branded-a-joke-football-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/38218\/","title":{"rendered":"Rio Ferdinand pleads with Arteta as Arsenal star branded \u2018a joke\u2019 | Football | Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rio Ferdinand has begged Mikel Arteta<\/a> to hand Arsenal wonderkid Max Dowman valuable game time this season. Following the 15-year-old\u2019s impressive pre-season performance<\/a> against AC Milan,<\/a> the former Manchester United<\/a> defender hailed Dowman as \u201ca joke”.<\/p>\n

Arsenal<\/a> supporters are no strangers to Dowman\u2019s prodigious talent, having closely monitored his rise through the youth team ranks. Despite his tender age, the left-footed attacking midfielder has been fast-tracked into the first team<\/a>, training with the Gunners’ senior squad since the start of this year. Dowman was included in the squad that Mikel Arteta<\/a> took to Spain for a training camp last week and, on Wednesday, he made his senior debut at the 65-minute mark against AC Milan during the team’s pre-season match in Singapore. The England U17s superstar took up the right wing position, appearing sharp and comfortable whenever he had the ball and even scoring Arsenal<\/a>‘s sixth penalty in a pre-arranged penalty shootout. His dazzling cameo sent a clear signal that he’s ready to be called upon by Arteta once the 2025\/26 season kicks off.<\/p>\n

Former TNT Sports pundit Ferdinand<\/a> is among the many who have jumped aboard the Dowman hype train, having been left awestruck by what he’s witnessed so far. He said on Rio Ferdinand Presents<\/a>: \u201cThere\u2019s a different energy about me when I\u2019m talking about young players. Young players that get you off your seat. Who you watch and you just go, \u2018Ooh, give me some more of that\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke about him in November by the way, Max Dowman, don\u2019t forget that name guys. Hale End at Arsenal<\/a> have produced another young gem. They\u2019ve got Ethan Nwaneri already and Bukayo Saka<\/a> who\u2019s an elder statesman now in the changing room.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd 15-year-old Dowman knocking about now. If you haven\u2019t seen the clips I advise you to go online. Look, it\u2019s early days\u2026 But it looks like Declan Rice<\/a> has taken him under his wing, they took a selfie together. He\u2019s definitely the best 15-year-old in the country, probably in Europe right now. Maybe the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI keep seeing people saying, \u2018Don\u2019t overhype\u2019 – what are we in football for? We\u2019re here to be entertained, to get excited about young talent and appreciate it. I\u2019m not putting expectations on his shoulders or saying he\u2019s got to play ten games or score five goals. I love it. I want to see the young players coming up.<\/p>\n

\u201cGo and see what this kid was doing in the FA Youth Cup game last year against Manchester United<\/a>. He is a joke. And what I\u2019m hearing from the Arsenal<\/a> camp is that he\u2019s transferring his ability shown in the youth team to when he\u2019s training with the first team. The players are going, \u2018Woah\u2019, it\u2019s ridiculous so long may this continue and I hope we talk more and more about Dowman as the season goes on, and also Ethan Nwaneri.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sending a direct message to the Arsenal<\/a> boss, Ferdinand added: \u201cPlease, Mikel Arteta<\/a>, play these kids because I think they\u2019re good enough. He knows that because he sees them more than me. But I\u2019m just begging that he can give them more game time while trying to win the Premier League. Talent is undeniable sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Statistics go some way to showcasing Dowman’s lofty potential. He was just 13 when he became the youngest player to represent Arsenal<\/a>‘s Under-18s and was just 14 when he first appeared for the Under-21s, again setting a new record. In September 2024, he made history as the youngest player to ever score in the UEFA Youth League. Dowman has also been a standout for England, playing and scoring for the Under-17s at just 14 years old.<\/p>\n

During this summer’s Under-17 European Championship, he was the tournament’s youngest participant but still started all three of England’s matches, scoring a remarkable solo goal against the Czech Republic. The FA Youth Cup quarter-final against Manchester United<\/a> in February left many Arsenal<\/a> fans in awe.<\/p>\n

Playing at the Emirates Stadium for their Under-18s team, Dowman outshone all of the other players on the pitch. The only way the United players could keep tabs on him was by fouling him from behind.<\/p>\n

Arsenal<\/a>‘s Player of the Season Rice echoed Ferdinand’s sentiments in March<\/a>, stating: “He is unreal,” and dubbing Dowman \u201cthe best 15-year-old in the country\u201d. Even Arteta, who usually looks to shield young players from the spotlight, has admitted: “Some of the things he does in training are unbelievable\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rio Ferdinand has begged Mikel Arteta to hand Arsenal wonderkid Max Dowman valuable game time this season. Following…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[1215,31237,31238,4501,21907,403,99],"class_list":["post-38218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-arsenal-fc","tag-england-football-team","tag-max-dowman","tag-mikel-arteta","tag-rio-ferdinand","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}