Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has confirmed the club will not rule out sending 16-year-old sensation Max Dowman out on loan in the future, even as he insists the priority for now is keeping the youngster within the first-team environment at the Emirates.
Dowman, who became the youngest player to ever score in the Premier League and for Arsenal last season, has yet to appear in the league this campaign. But he underlined his talent with a brace in Arsenal's 4-2 Carabao Cup win at Ipswich Town on Tuesday, his first appearance of the season, reigniting talk of a potential loan spell elsewhere.
Under Premier League regulations, Dowman will become eligible for a loan move once he turns 17 on 31 December, with the winter transfer window opening the very next day. Reports have suggested there is already interest from clubs, including League One side Luton Town, managed by former Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere.
Despite the speculation, Arteta made clear that Arsenal have not engaged with any offers so far, as the focus remains on integrating Dowman into the senior squad this season.
"We haven't really listened to any of the possibilities because we were crystal clear that we wanted to have Max in the squad, that we wanted him to be part of the pre-season and then start to see where we are from there," Arteta said.
The Spaniard added that the club will regularly assess what is best for the teenager's progress rather than committing to a fixed plan.
"We will evaluate every six months where we are and what is the best thing for him to do and then make the right decision," Arteta explained. "It depends on a lot of factors. What he needs, and what the team needs as well, the availability we have in the squad, the minutes that he is playing and the qualities of those minutes. We have to be open, but now the focus is to be here and to impact the team."
Arteta, who himself left home at 17 to join Paris Saint-Germain, acknowledged that such early moves can go either way for young players, depending largely on the environment they find themselves in.
"There have been many cases of that age when they have gone out and been successful and others not," he said. "In my particular case, I was 17 when I went to Paris. It depends on the atmosphere that you find there, and how much the coach believes in you as to whether you go there just to be part of a squad or play minutes. Which country, it depends. But now he is in a good place, let's keep him here."
The comparison with Ethan Nwaneri, another academy graduate who debuted for Arsenal's first team at 15, was inevitable. Nwaneri eventually went out on loan to Marseille in the second half of last season at age 18, with Arteta describing the move at the time as throwing the youngster "into the sharks." Asked whether Dowman might benefit from similar experience in the future, Arteta pointed to the lengthy deliberation that preceded Nwaneri's departure, suggesting a similar process could play out with Dowman.
For now, Arsenal remain unbeaten across all competitions this season, having won all seven of their fixtures, starting with a Community Shield victory over Manchester City. Arteta suggested that Dowman's performance against Ipswich could boost his claims for involvement against Brighton in the Premier League this weekend.
"The best way to knock on the door is to do it on the pitch, not in the office," Arteta said. "When a player delivers constantly on the pitch, every single day in training, that's the best signal for the manager, and for his team-mates too."
Based on reporting from BBC Sport and Standard Sport.