Nwaneri and Dowman: The PL’s youngest-ever players | Statistics | News

Our 5-0 success against Leeds United will live long in the memory for many reasons, but it’ll never be forgotten by Max Dowman who made his Gunners debut in the second half.

Aged just 15 years and 235 days, Max made his professional debut in the 64th minute when he replaced Noni Madueke, and became the second-youngest player in Premier League history.

And in a nice piece of symmetry, he shared the field with the current record holder – Ethan Nwaneri who was 54 days younger than Max when he made his Gunners bow against Brentford back in September 2022.

Three years ago, Ethan became the first 15-year-old to play in the Premier League, and also became the youngest player ever to appear in a top-flight match in English football, beating the previous record held by Sunderland’s Derek Foster in August 1964. Foster was just three days older at 15 and 184 days.

The pair are also the two youngest players in Arsenal history, and indeed the only players to feature for us before their 16th birthday.

However, another current Gunners holds the record for being our youngest ever starter. Jack Porter’s appearance against Bolton Wanderers last season – a night that saw Ethan score his first goals for the club – came when he was 16 years and 72 days. 

That means that Max, who won’t turn 16 until New Year’s Eve, has until mid-March to take that record from our academy custodian.

Given his impressive cameo off the bench against Leeds, Max has shown he has an eye for goal, and another long-standing club could be his if he continues to receive first-team opportunities in 2025/26.

Back in December 2003 – six years before Max was born – a fresh-faced Cesc Fabregas made a name for himself when he netted in a League Cup tie against Wolves, becoming our youngest-ever goalscorer aged 16 years and 212 days.

With that in mind, should Max score his first Gunners goal at any point this season, then he would leapfrog the Spaniard in the rankings and potentially take that particular slice of club history, unless another academy product gets there first!

And while we may have the youngest Premier League player in history in Ethan, should Max score in the top-flight before September 27, 2026, then we could also have the competition’s youngest scorer.

That record has been held for 20 years by James Vaughan, who scored for Everton against Crystal Palace aged 16 years and 270 days in April 2005. Playing, and indeed scoring, for the Toffees that day was a certain Mikel Arteta, who could be instrumental yet again in helping a young prospect set a new Premier League benchmark.