Max Dowman becomes Arsenal’s youngest starter

After being named in our starting XI for our Carabao Cup fourth round win against Brighton, Max Dowman broke an Arsenal record by becoming our youngest ever starter.

When he came on against Leeds United last month to make his professional bow, Max became the second-youngest player in Premier League history, as well as in our club’s 138-year history, but by being named on the teamsheet against the Seagulls, he has become the youngest player to do so for our men’s first-team.

Aged just 15 years and 302 days old, Max has broken the record set last season when Jack Porter was named between the posts against Bolton Wanderers in the same competition. Jack was 16 years and 72 days old that night, meaning his England under-19 teammate Max beat him by 135 days, and became the first player to start a game for us aged 16 or younger.

Max will now be hoping to break another long-standing club record 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!