WAYNE ROONEY has recalled what his son Kai said about Max Dowman after facing the wonderkid at youth level.
Dowman, 15, made his debut this Saturday, coming off the bench in Arsenal’s 5-0 thrashing of Leeds, winning a penalty for the Gunners late on.
He has been taking part in first-team training sessions since he was 14, and was a shining star on Arsenal’s pre-season tour of Asia.
Wayne Rooney’s son, Kai, 15, plays in Manchester United’s academy set up, and has rivalled Dowman at youth level.
On his podcast, The Wayne Rooney Show, Rooney said: “We were watching the Arsenal game and Dowman comes, and Kai has played against him, and I said, ‘Is he your age?‘
“And he went, ‘Yeah’.
“Kai is two months older than him!’
“He [Kai] just said, “You can clearly see he’s a top player.”
“And for any young player, you say, you work hard and put the effort in and you never know.
“Sometimes you could be playing under-15s and next time under-18s or Premier League.”
Rooney recalls the ‘surreal’ experience of when he made his own breakthrough for Everton back in 2002 aged just 16 years old.
“It’s surreal, it’s so strange.
“One minute you’re in the youth team and the next minute you’re in the first-team dressing room, and for me, some of my heroes growing up, I’m in there playing with, training with, becoming friends with.
“It’s something you need to get used to very quickly because it can be overwhelming but Dowman looks level-headed and you hope he manages to deal with it and understands what’s coming his way very soon.”
Arsenal ratings vs Leeds
ARSENAL thrashed newly-promoted Leeds 5-0 as new signing Eberechi Eze watched on from the stands at The Emirates.
A glut of goals saw the Gunners cruise to a win in their opening home game of the season, including a first goal for Swedish striker Viktor Gyokeres.
Leeds valiantly held off the Premier League runners up for the opening half an hour, and even came close to opening the scoring through Pascal Struijk’s powerful header, palmed away by David Raya.
But it was the head of Arsenal’s Jurrien Timber that would break the deadlock, glancing home beautifully from a Declan Rice corner in the 34th minute.
Starlet Bukayo Saka doubled the advantage just before half-time with a thumping finish into the roof of the net from a Timber through ball.
There would be no reprieve for the visitors, as Gyokeres beat his man and wrong-footed the keeper to make it three.
Timber added another goal for himself in the 54th minute, toe-poking a scrappy goal past Lucas Perri in the chaos following another troublesome corner delivery.
And 15-year-old Max Dowman showed the Gunners’ future is looking secure after coming on and winning a penalty late on, which Gyokeres converted.
Here’s how SunSport’s Tom Barclay rated the Gunners’ stars
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