Max Dauman has been tipped as Arsenal’s next big player and Jack Wilshere knows the hugely talented teenager first-hand, having worked with him in the academy.
Jack Wilshere supported Arsenal genius Max Dorman to the top and claimed he was five years ahead of his time.
Wilshere, a former Arsenal academy coach, worked with 15-year-old star Dauman and remembers using the midfielder in an under-18 game when he was just 13. It was the day Wilshere realized Dowman had what it took to fulfill his potential, with the former England star insisting the teenager had a far better prospect than he did.
Wilshere, now in charge at Luton, said: “It’s difficult because you don’t want to be that guy who says, ‘He’s going to be this, he’s going to be that.’ But all the challenges he’s facing at the moment, I remember him playing 18-a-side. He was 13 and we were playing against Southampton, a good academy.
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“We were leading 2-0 and I remember saying to my assistant: “Let’s get Max on the pitch.” I was standing next to him and he was already taller than me!
“I remember saying to him, ‘Max, don’t forget you’re playing against guys five years older than you. That’s fine, but don’t get into any duels. Just go round and get a touch or two.’
“The first thing he did when he came on was run around three players and square and we scored. “I saw the assistant and I had never seen that before.
“But the most important thing for Max is that he’s a first-rate kid. He has a good family. He has a great mother and a father who will do anything for him and want the best for his son.
“It was just six or seven weeks ago before I came here. I went to see Arsenal in the Under-19 Champions League game and Max was playing. After the game, his dad was shooting and he asked me if I could take him home.”
“I drove him home and it’s hard to remember that he was only 15 years old. He was going to play with me and Uno, and he was a top-class kid, so I’m very happy for him.
“People say, ‘Is he better than you?’ He’s better than me. But where I see similarities is his love for the game. I’ve worked with some kids who wouldn’t even watch the game, but he loves the game. He loves Arsenal, he loves playing for Arsenal.”
Wilshere said Dowman had the perfect mentor in Declan Rice and recalled that he looked up to Cesc Fabregas at Arsenal and John Terry at England.
Wilshere added: “There’s no better example for him than December to be around every day. I was at West Ham when December ended and I know how important Mark Noble was at West Ham and I can see him growing into that role.”
“For me it was Cesc. It was different back then because there was no older leader. I went to England and John Terry was great for me, coaching me through every moment of the game.
“Cesc led by example, gave me a little chat and helped me out, because he was an example to me in the way he played and the way he behaved. He was 16 and I was 12 and in the first team. I looked at that and thought: ‘That’s what I have to do.’
“One of my biggest regrets was him leaving because we only played together for a year. I wish we had played longer.”
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