It may ultimately boil down to the question of whether, mentally and physically, Dowman is ready. The Arsenal players who shared a pitch with him in Wednesday night's defeat to Villarreal certainly made their feelings known.

I find myself being torn when discussing Max Dowman. There is the welfare aspect of talking about a player who is only 15 years old and understanding how much development is yet to go in this young man’s life,

Charlie Patino was once heralded as Arsenal's next big star, but things didn't quite work out for the midfielder who offered Mikel Arteta sound advice on how to handle 15-year-old Max Dowman