{"id":3994,"date":"2025-08-10T13:35:32","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T13:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/10\/max-douman-plays-like-lionel-messi-and-the-teenage-arsenal-starlet-says-peter-crouch\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T13:35:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T13:35:32","slug":"max-douman-plays-like-lionel-messi-and-the-teenage-arsenal-starlet-says-peter-crouch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/10\/max-douman-plays-like-lionel-messi-and-the-teenage-arsenal-starlet-says-peter-crouch\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Douman plays like &#8220;Lionel Messi and the teenage Arsenal Starlet,&#8221; says Peter Crouch."},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"atom-body\">\n<div class=\"mt-3 first:mt-0 lg:mt-4\">\n<div data-testid=\"atom-body-paragraph\" class=\"text-onLight-02 break-words body-2 md:body-1\">Max Dowman plunged into the Arsenal scene during the club&#8217;s preseason and is one of the Gunners&#8217; biggest positives ahead of the new campaign.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-3 first:mt-0 lg:mt-4\">\n<p>The 15-year-old made his non-competitive debut against AC Milan, and also featured Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur and Villarreal before taking a break at the end of the summer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-3 first:mt-0 lg:mt-4\">\n<p>He appears to be a job joining Mikel Arteta&#8217;s first team for the 2025\/26 season, with Peter Crouch making a brave comparison with one of the game&#8217;s most iconic players.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-3 first:mt-0 lg:mt-4\">\n<p>&#8220;Breakout star? I love what Arsenal did with the young guys coming out there,&#8221; Crouch explained in TNT Sports &#8216;The Breakdown.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-3 first:mt-0 lg:mt-4\">\n<p>&#8220;Max Douman is the guy who was on everyone&#8217;s lips. He certainly looks like a preseason. He knows he&#8217;ll be a player. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-3 first:mt-0 lg:mt-4\">\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve seen him a bit, and he plays like that &#8212; obviously this is a ridiculous statement &#8212; but the way he plays it seems like (Lionel) Messi. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-3 first:mt-0 lg:mt-4\">\n<p>&#8220;Literally, you go inside and easily pass the players. Obviously, he&#8217;s not there yet, but he has everything that has all the attributes. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-3 first:mt-0 lg:mt-4\">\n<p>&#8220;(Ethan) Nuwaneri, Miles Lewis Skelly, I think he&#8217;s an older politician now, but I think the players coming to Arsenal for me are something to see.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-3 first:mt-0 lg:mt-4\">\n<p>The teenager, born in 2009, played for Arsenal U18 last season &#8211; three years older than his age group &#8211; scoring 17 goals in 22 league matches and registering 10 assists.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-3 first:mt-0 lg:mt-4\">\n<p>And fellow TNT sports expert Owen Hargreaves claimed he would &#8220;play like an 18 year old.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-3 first:mt-0 lg:mt-4\">\n<p>Douman also plays beyond his age group at the international level and was featured at the English Under-17 at the European Championships earlier this summer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-3 first:mt-0 lg:mt-4\">\n<p>He started all three group stage matches, scored and won 4-2 in the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-3 first:mt-0 lg:mt-4\">\n<p>Dowman is reportedly taking a break after joining with the Gunners before the season, so he is not expected to be with the Arsenal squad for the next few weeks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-3 first:mt-0 lg:mt-4\">\n<figure data-testid=\"molecule-infographic\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.eurosport.com\/2025\/08\/10\/image-ffad4a7d-9043-4c53-aa8d-edb3cb476f3a.jpeg\" alt=\"Max Douman is acting for Arsenal against Villarreal\" data-testid=\"infographic-img\"\/><figcaption class=\"text-onLight-02 py-3 pr-3\" data-testid=\"media-card-caption\"><span class=\"block caption-2\">Max Douman is acting for Arsenal against Villarreal<\/span><span class=\"block caption-2\">Image credits: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-3 first:mt-0 lg:mt-4\">\n<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s definitely continuing to be impressed,&#8221; Arteta said of his talented outlook. The impact he has had on the game, the efficiency he shows with every attack and action, is incredible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-3 first:mt-0 lg:mt-4\">\n<p>&#8220;Again, he deserves a chance. If he continues like this, let&#8217;s see what happens.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-3 first:mt-0 lg:mt-4\">\n<p>He added: <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-3 first:mt-0 lg:mt-4\">\n<p>&#8220;So, in the three or four games he&#8217;s played, he manages to shock him and has big moments in the game.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-3 first:mt-0 lg:mt-4\">\n<div data-testid=\"atom-body-paragraph\" class=\"text-onLight-02 break-words body-2 md:body-1\">TNT Sports and Discovery+ including Premier League, Men&#8217;s and Women&#8217;s FA Cup, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tntsports.co.uk\/football\/premier-league\/2025-2026\/max-dowman-lionel-messi-arsenal-peter-crouch_sto23209957\/story.shtml\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Max Dowman plunged into the Arsenal scene during the club&#8217;s preseason and is one of the Gunners&#8217; biggest positives ahead of the new campaign. The 15-year-old made his non-competitive debut against AC Milan, and also featured Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur and Villarreal before taking a break at the end of the summer. He appears to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3994","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-english-premier-league"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Max Douman plays like &quot;Lionel Messi and the teenage Arsenal Starlet,&quot; says Peter Crouch. - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/10\/max-douman-plays-like-lionel-messi-and-the-teenage-arsenal-starlet-says-peter-crouch\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Max Douman plays like &quot;Lionel Messi and the teenage Arsenal Starlet,&quot; says Peter Crouch. - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Max Dowman plunged into the Arsenal scene during the club&#8217;s preseason and is one of the Gunners&#8217; biggest positives ahead of the new campaign. 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