Arsenal legend Theo Walcott, has reportedly sent a heartfelt warning to Gunners starlet Max Dowman about a possible fast-track into Thomas Tuchel’s England squad.
The 16-year-old forward’s remarkable goal-scoring breakthrough under Mikel Arteta has made him the topic of the Premier League.
However, Walcott believes that accepting a berth on the plane for the 2026 World Cup could impair the youngster’s long-term growth.
Dowman has had an incredible breakthrough season. At just 16 years and 73 days old, he recently made Premier League history by becoming the youngest goal scorer in history.
A nationwide discussion about his possible selection in the senior England squad for this summer’s World Cup was spurred by his crucial goal in a 2-0 victory over Everton in mid-March.
Although Dowman joined the Three Lions’ Under-19s in Portugal and was left out of Tuchel’s 35-man training camp for March, the England manager has significantly declined to rule out a wildcard selection for the creative forward.
Walcott Cautions Dowman
Walcott encouraged the youngster to put emotional development ahead of short-term success, drawing on his own experience as an unexpected 17-year-old selection in Sven-Goran Eriksson’s 2006 World Cup squad.
The former winger for Everton and Arsenal acknowledged that if given the opportunity, he would alter his own past: “I hope he [Dowman] doesn’t go,” he told the Daily Mirror.
“I don’t mean it in a horrible way because if I could go back in time, I would change things.
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“I would say to myself: ‘No, no, don’t do it’ but then try telling that to a 17-year-old! I do still see him and me differently as he’s playing in the Premier League, but he needs to grow at his own pace, especially on the emotional side because he’s a young adult.
“Had to grow up very fast but this team is still young and not as experienced.
“He’s being protected, which is important, whereas I had to get thrown in to talk to you lot! In time he will go, yes, but I don’t think this is the time and I think there are better players who arguably deserve to be there ahead of him.
“He will eventually get there but England have wide players doing really well, there’s Bukayo [Saka], [Noni] Madueke, Jarrod Bowen and Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes on the other side.”
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