Meet Arsenal’s Max Dowman - The 16-year-old who came on and scored from his own half
Max Dowman came off the bench, created Arsenal's first goal and then scored from his own half in stoppage time to break a 21-year Premier League record against Everton. Here's everything you need to know about the teenager
Jordan Pickford had pushed forward for a corner in the 97th minute, doing what goalkeepers do when their side needs a goal and time is almost up. Everton were stubborn even at 1-0 down at the Emirates, and the corner was their last real throw of the dice. It backfired badly.
Arsenal cleared it to Max Dowman, who'd come off the bench 23 minutes earlier, and the 16-year-old did something that most senior professionals wouldn't even attempt. He took the ball 25 metres from his own goal, drove past two defenders, sprinted the length of the pitch and slotted into the empty net with the composure of someone who'd done it a hundred times before. It was only his third Premier League appearance.
At 16 years and 73 days old, the Chelmsford-born winger became the youngest goalscorer in Premier League history on Saturday, breaking a record that had stood for 21 years.
James Vaughan had held it since 2005, when he scored for Everton against Crystal Palace aged 16 years and 270 days. The irony of breaking it against Everton wasn't lost on anyone. Even less so the fact that Mikel Arteta, who handed Dowman the opportunity, was actually on the pitch that day playing for the Toffees when Vaughan set the record.
But the goal wasn't even where his afternoon started. Eight minutes before that solo run, it was Dowman's dangerous cross to the back post that Jordan Pickford misjudged, allowing Viktor Gyokeres to tap home and break the deadlock in the 89th minute. He'd barely been on 15 minutes before changing the game.
Per ESPN Global, Arteta's instruction when he sent him on was as simple as it gets: “Go and do your thing and win us the game.”
He did exactly that, in both directions.
The records Dowman has been stacking up since August are like something fabricated for a football video game.
He made his Premier League debut against Leeds United at 15 years and 235 days, becoming the second youngest player in the league's history behind his own teammate Ethan Nwaneri. He started against Brighton in the Carabao Cup in October at 15 years and 302 days, becoming Arsenal's youngest ever starter. In November, he came on against Slavia Prague in the Champions League at 15 years and 308 days, surpassing Youssoufa Moukoko to become the youngest player in the competition's history.
He'd already broken the UEFA Youth League scoring record aged 14. At 13, he was turning out for Arsenal's Under-18s. At 14, he was the youngest player in Premier League 2 history.
The Messi comparison has started coming up, at first and now less so.
BBC Sport quoted Arteta after Saturday, saying that Dowman's rise was “just not normal,” which is the closest he's prepared to go publicly while trying to protect a child who is still in school and changes in a separate dressing room from his senior teammates per FA regulations.
But the academy thread is worth following. Lamine Yamal came through La Masia. Messi came through La Masia. Dowman came through Hale End, the same north London academy that produced Nwaneri, Saka and Ashley Cole. The factory has a track record.
The win moved Arsenal nine points clear of Manchester City, who drew 1-1 at West Ham later in the day, with seven games to go for the Gunners.
The title is almost certainly theirs. And somewhere in the noise of a Premier League evening that delivered a historic scoreline and a title race all but settled, a 16-year-old schoolboy casually ran from his own half and scored in front of 60,000 people like it was nothing.
He'll be back in school on Monday.
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