Former Arsenal winger Theo Walcott has said he hopes exciting youngster Max Dowman does not make the England squad to this year’s FIFA World Cup.
Despite spending some time on the sidelines due to injury, Dowman has been one of the revelation of the season for the Gunners.
The precociously talented Arsenal teenager became the youngest goalscorer in Premier League history earlier this month when helping the league leaders overcome a stubborn Everton side.
Dowman’s impact and potential led to suggestions that the World Cup could take priority over his GCSEs this summer.
But Walcott, who was a member of the Three Lions squad to the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, posited that it should be a gradual process for him.
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“I hope Dowman doesn’t go,” Walcott was quoted on Arsenal News Channel’s X handle. “I don’t mean it in a horrible way because if I could go back in time, I would change things. I would say to myself: ‘No, no, don’t do it’ but then try telling that to a 17-year-old!’ I do still see him and me differently as he’s playing in the Premier League but he needs to grow at his own pace, especially on the emotional side because he’s a young adult.
“I had to grow up very fast but this team is still young and not as experienced. He’s being protected, which is important, whereas I had to get thrown in to talk to you lot!
“In time he will go, yes, but I don’t think this is the time and I think there are better players who arguably deserve to be there ahead of him. He will eventually get there but England have wide players doing really well, there’s Bukayo, Madueke, Jarrod Bowen and Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes on the other side.”
