Max Dowman has been billed as the next big thing at Arsenal and Jack Wilshere knows the supremely talented teenager firsthand having worked with him in the academy

Jack Wilshere has backed Arsenal prodigy Max Dowman to reach the very top - and claimed he is five years ahead of his time.

Former Arsenal academy coach Wilshere worked with 15-year-old starlet Dowman and remembers bringing the midfielder on during an under-18s game - when he was just 13. That was the day when Wilshere realised Dowman had what it takes to fulfil his potential and the ex-England star insists the teenager is a much better prospect than he was.

Wilshere, now in charge at Luton, said: “It’s hard because I don’t want to be the guy who says: ‘he will be this, or that.’ But every challenge he’s had at the moment,

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