Mikel Arteta has acknowledged that a loan move for 16-year-old sensation Max Dowman remains a possibility, though the Arsenal manager insists the club's immediate priority is keeping him in the first-team environment and assessing his development every six months.

Dowman announced himself to a wider audience this week, starting and scoring twice as Arsenal beat Ipswich in the Carabao Cup. The display prompted teammate Mikel Merino to draw comparisons with Barcelona and Spain forward Lamine Yamal — a remarkable benchmark for any teenager.

Despite that performance, those 90 minutes at Portman Road remain his only appearance of the season. Dowman was absent from Arsenal's matchday squad in Premier League victories over Aston Villa and Sunderland.

Arteta's six-month review plan

"We haven't really listened to any of the loan possibilities because we were clear that we want to have him in the squad, that we wanted him to be part of the pre-season," Arteta said.

"We will evaluate every six months where we are, what is the best thing for him to do and from there make the right decisions. It will depend on a lot of factors: what he needs, where the team is as well, the availability that we have in the squad, the amount of minutes that he's playing, the quality he's delivering when he's got those minutes."

Arteta drew on his own experience, recalling that he was 17 when he went to Paris Saint-Germain. He cautioned that the success of a loan depends heavily on the environment a young player finds himself in — including whether the coach genuinely believes in him and gives him meaningful minutes rather than a place on the bench.

"Now he's in a great place. He's in a good place right now and let's keep him here," Arteta added.

A record-breaking campaign behind him

Dowman's trajectory has been extraordinary. Last season he became the Premier League's youngest ever goalscorer and youngest ever starter during Arsenal's title-winning campaign, and also set the record as the youngest player in UEFA Champions League history as the Gunners reached the final.

Arsenal's handling of another precocious talent offers a reference point. Over the past nine months, midfielder Ethan Nwaneri — who became the youngest player in Premier League history in 2022 at the age of 15 — has been sent out on loan to Marseille and, most recently, Borussia Dortmund.

Bothroyd: Dowman belongs in the England squad

Former professional Jay Bothroyd, speaking on Sky Sports News, argued Dowman is already superior to established names being considered for England.

"Noni Madueke is not playing for Arsenal. For me, Max Dowman is better than Madueke now. If you're going to consider Madueke for England, then you definitely have to consider Dowman. And Dowman should be in that England squad right now."

Bothroyd pointed to the 2028 European Championships as a defining moment for Dowman's international trajectory. "Come the European Championships in 2028, he's going to be 18. He has to be in that squad and if he keeps doing what he's doing, he's going to be in that squad," he said.

Bothroyd also namechecked Rio Ngumoha as another young talent representing the future of English football, describing him as "electric."