Arsenal star Max Dowman has been forced out of England duty through injury. The Gunners wonderkid was named in the Three Lions’ under-19 side over the international break.
He had played three games against Ireland, Norway and the USA but was left out of the side that was defeated by Belgium. According to The Sun, his absence was due to injury.
It is suggested that the issue is not too serious and is simply a contact injury. Dowman’s problem comes after he was sent off against the United States but he was still eligible to play against Belgium due to the tournament being a friendly format.
Loan speculation builds
Dowman’s dramatic international break comes after Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta suggested that he could be sent out on loan in January. "We haven't really listened to any of the [loan] possibilities because we were clear that we want to have him in the squad, that we wanted him to be part of the pre-season," Arteta said.
"I'm going to start to see where we are from there. We will evaluate every six months where we are, what is the best thing for him to do and from there make the right decisions."
"It will depend on a lot of factors: what he needs, where the team is as well, the availability that we have in the squad, the amount of minutes that he's playing, the quality he's delivering when he's got those minutes."
Arteta draws on his own experience
"We have to be open, but now the focus is to be here and impact the team. There have been many cases of that age that they've gone [on loan] and they've been successful, some others not. Particularly, I think I was 17 when I went to Paris [Saint-Germain]."
"Depending on the atmosphere that you find there, how much the coach believes in you, you go there just to be part of a squad, not to play minutes."
"Which country? Depends. But now he's in a great place. He's in a good place right now and let's keep him here."
Wider injury concerns at Arsenal
Dowman’s injury is just the latest in a long line of issues that the Gunners have picked up during the international break. Kai Havertz and Christos Tzolis were injured when in action for both Germany and Greece respectively, while the FA also confirmed that defender Ezri Konsa had pulled out of England duty and would not be playing against the Czech Republic on Tuesday evening.
