Wayne Rooney has revealed his son Kai gave him the lowdown on Arsenal wonderkid Max Dowman, who recently made his Premier League debut.
Rooney reveals son's praise for Dowman15-year-old made league debut against LeedsImpressed during pre-seasonFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
Dowman has been making waves over the summer after breaking into Mikel Arteta's first-team squad as a 15-year-old, impressing with his fleet-footed dribbling and eye for goal. The teenager made his Premier League debut during the 5-0 victory over Leeds on Saturday, becoming the second youngest player ever in the division with only team-mate Ethan Nwaneri ahead of him, and had a couple of unsuccessful shots at goal after his 64th-minute introduction.
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Rooney himself was a prodigious youngster, breaking onto the scene with Everton before having a highly successful career with Manchester United. He was also England's leading men's goalscorer before being overtaken by current Three Lions skipper Harry Kane and the 39-year-old has now revealed he got the inside scoop from son Kai when watching the Gunners' easy win over Leeds.
WHAT ROONEY SAID
Speaking on the BBC's Wayne Rooney Show, the former England captain said: "We were watching the Arsenal game and Dowman comes on and and Kai has played against him, and I said, 'Is he your age?' And he went, 'Yeah'. Kai is two months older than him!
"It's actually crazy that he's playing first-team football in the Premier League. He [Kai] just said, 'You can clearly see he's a top player.' And for any young player, you say, you work hard and put the effort in and you never know.
"Sometimes you could be playing Under-15s and next time Under-18s or Premier League."
DID YOU KNOW?
Arsenal's players were keen to set Dowman up for a goal at the weekend. If the teenager were to net in the Premier League this season he would become the division's youngest ever goalscorer, with the record currently held by James Vaughan who was 16 years and 270 days old when he bagged for Everton in April 2005. Dowman doesn't turn 16 until New Year's Eve and has the whole campaign to claim the record.