Declan Rice makes rare claim about prodigal Arsenal youngster

Arsenal superstar Declan Rice claims he has never seen a talent quite like Max Dowman at that age, in a recent interview with Simon Collings.

In an interview where Rice goes in depth on a lot of other things, he was asked about one of Arsenal's most prized possessions. Dowman, who, despite being 16 years old, has made a few appearances for the first team.

Obviously, the talent that this Arsenal side has is really, really high, so it is tough for many players to get substantial minutes. In fact, other talented players like Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly struggled to get game time too.

Lewis-Skelly is still at the club and is trying his hardest to get minutes, while Nwaneri has moved to Marseille till the end of the season to get as much game time as possible.

Declan Rice makes rare claim about prodigal Arsenal youngster

With Dowman, it is different. On one hand, he plays the same positions as two of the best players on the team, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard.

On the other hand, he has enough talent and potential to match what they are doing in a few years' time, so it is Arsenal's job to manage his minutes and future as well as possible.

Rice himself talked about Dowman as an amazing talent, and claimed that he is unlike anything he has seen at the age Dowman is right now.

He said: “He’s incredible. He’s a talent that I’ve not seen at that age. It was Jack Wilshere who first told me about him, he said ‘You need to watch him’. You know when a footballer’s good and Max for sure has definitely got it.”

First of all, it also shows Wilshire's keen eye for talent, as it is he who brought Dowman to Rice's attention.

Secondly, it is a sense of pride for the youngster to be hailed the way he is right now, by one of the very best players in world football.

Rice rarely talks about any youngster the way he has just done so about Dowman, and although time will tell whether he actually reaches his potential or not, it is good to see that the player is highly rated by senior players as well as the club.

It will be interesting to see what he does in the near future. Playing as much as possible should be his priority for a few years as he has a lot of time to develop into a first-team player. A few appearances here and there would give him a decent amount of experience, which is exactly what he needs before he starts playing the way everyone expects him to.