Trossard hails Academy kids, Arteta thinks Dowman can be "one of our own"

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Whatever happens between now and May, Arsenal fans can already look back on this season as the one where Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly announced themselves as bona fide first-team stars.

While the academy pair have yet to earn formal promotion to the senior squad, their 35 combined appearances suggest they have very bright futures at the Emirates.

They've certainly made an impression on their teammates, who've been wowed by their eagerness to learn and raw talent. Declan Rice recently described Lewis-Skelly as "unbelievable," while a senior figure at the club told Arseblog News this week that they view the 18-year-old as a future club captain. Leo Trossard is equally impressed.

"I think he has shown his qualities over the past few weeks to everyone,” he said of the midfielder-turned-full-back.

"We have seen it already over the past months that he had the capability of doing that and now he is showing it on the big stage.

"He's such a good player, so strong as well for his age, it's unbelievable and also down to earth and that's also one of his biggest qualities. He is also the same as Ethan [Nwaneri], a bright future ahead of him and I'm really pleased for those two.

"I think, as I said before, he's really down to earth and he knows what he's dealing with.

"He's a class player and as I said, the more games he will play, the better he will get I think."

After a recent injury kept him out of the limelight, Nwaneri's impressive contribution this season – five goals and counting – is set to resume. Now back to full fitness, he's expected to be part of the squad that faces Dinamo Zagreb on Wednesday.

His return should ease the burden on players like Trossard, who is delighted to have the teenager back.

"He’s just an amazing player,” said the Belgian. “You can tell already in training sessions how confident he is as well, beating his man one-on-one. He has such a good shot as well, scoring goals.

"He has a bright future ahead of him and can help us a lot."

Following hot on the heels of Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly is 15-year-old Max Dowman. The highly-rated midfielder has been training regularly with the first team having recently become the youngest player to score in the UEFA Youth League and the youngest player to represent Arsenal’s under-21s.

Many supporters have wondered whether Dowman might be given a chance to break Nwaneri’s record as the senior side’s youngest player. However, the rules won’t allow it because, at the end of August 2024, he wasn’t yet 15 years old (The Athleticexplains more here). Had he been old enough, you suspect Mikel Arteta would have been tempted to throw him in the deep end.

“He’s very impressive,” said the Spaniard on Tuesday. “At his age as well, some of the things he does in training are unbelievable. He's a player with huge talent and we have a lot of belief that we can develop him to become one of our own. He's doing very well so far.

“At the moment with all the legislation there are a lot of restrictions for your age, something that in other countries you don't even mention.

“We'll have to wait and see. He's taking very fast steps because every time you put him in a different challenge, a different level, he overcomes that hurdle really quickly which is great.”

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