Mikel Arteta shares the brutal way Arsenal players dealt with Max Dowman when he first joined training

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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has lifted the lid on Max Dowman’s early days training with the Gunners senior team.

Max Dowman has broken into the Arsenal first-team this season, making his debut and getting two senior appearances under his belt.

Dowman has been making waves at Arsenal for some time now – so much so, in fact, that Gunners fans were clamouring for him to make his debut last season.

While this was not possible in the Premier League due to their rules, Dowman is eligible to play in the competition this term, and he has been getting game time.

And Mikel Arteta revealed that Arsenal’s players did not exactly take it easy on him when he first took part in senior training sessions.

Arsenal players would look to kick Max Dowman – but things are different now

The early stages of the Carabao Cup are known for top teams making wide-scale changes, and Arsenal could very well do the same against Port Vale.

There’s a good chance that Dowman could make his full debut in Staffordshire and, as such, there was media interest in the 15-year-old ahead of the game.

When asked how Arsenal’s players handled a talented young star like Dowman pulling off tricks in training, Arteta admitted that they would look to kick him.

However, Arteta stressed that things have changed since then, and now everyone is very supportive of him.

“At the beginning, they responded immediately, kick him! That was the first one,” Arteta said, as per football.london.

“And Max, to be fair, he was excellent. He stood up and got into the next one.

“You can really get an impression of someone who was 14 last year at some point when he was doing certain things to players.

“And now, yeah, everybody loves him. You just want to hug him, help him. He’s such a nice boy as well, and he’s very much liked by everybody here. And just looking after us.

“It brings responsibility to look after somebody with that talent and make sure we just do what we have to do to make sure we’re giving him the best chance to exploit his talent. That’s all.”

READ MORE: Five Arsenal academy stars Mikel Arteta must play vs Port Vale, including the ‘next William Saliba’

Why Max Dowman played for Arsenal’s Under-21s against Wolves U21s

When a player of Dowman’s calibre breaks through into the senior team, it almost seems strange to see him ‘relegated’ to the U21s.

However, that’s what happened last Saturday, with Dowman playing in the Premier League 2 game against Wolves U21s.

That said, Arsenal are a team known for not wanting to put too much responsibility on the shoulders of their young players.

Arteta confirmed that the Gunners are trying to strike the right balance between exposing Dowman to senior football but also giving him more game time at youth level.

“We need to be cautious and very, very careful,” said the Spaniard.

“And that’s what we are trying to do in the best possible way, to find that balance, to keep Max as connected as possible with the first team, because he’s undoubtedly a player that can help the first team.

“But that’s why we need the right mixture of minutes, like he did the other day with the [Under-21s] and with England, to have that exposure when he needs to play with us, he’s ready to do that.”

Even legends from rival clubs have been praising Dowman.

Rio Ferdinand has spoken highly of Dowman for months, while Wayne Rooney recently backed Dowman to be a future England star.