Arsenal injury news: Max Dowman withdraws from England squad to add to Mikel Arteta's fitness concerns

By Ben Sully | 06 Oct 2026 10:53

Fresh injury blow: Arsenal's Dowman withdraws from England duty

Arsenal youngster Max Dowman has pulled out of the England Under-19 squad due to injury.

Dowman started the international period with a goal in a 1-0 victory over the Republic of Ireland on September 25.

The 16-year-old then featured as a substitute in a 2-1 win over Norway before he returned to the starting lineup for Friday's meeting with the USA.

Dowman provided an assist for Reigan Heskey's opener in the narrow victory, but his outing was brought to a premature end by a 74th-minute red card.

Despite the dismissal, the Arsenal prospect was still eligible to feature in England Under-19s final game of the international window against Belgium.

Dowman drops out of England Under-19 squad

However, it was revealed before the game that Dowman had pulled out of Ben Futcher's squad due to injury.

According to The Sun, there are currently no concerns that the issue will keep Dowman out for any significant length of time.

That said, the contact injury was enough to prevent Dowman from featuring in Monday's 1-0 defeat.

Dowman will be assessed by Arsenal's medical team ahead of the return of domestic football this weekend.

If he is able to shake off the issue, the attacker could feature for Arsenal's Under-21s in their Premier League 2 clash against Sunderland Under-21s on Saturday, unless Mikel Arteta calls him into the senior squad for the Premier League meeting with Leeds United.

Arteta's growing list of injury concerns

Unfortunately for Arteta, he has had to get used to his players struggling with injury during the extended international window.

Declan Rice pulled out of Thomas Tuchel's initial England squad due to load management, while Jurrien Timber's minutes have been managed by Netherlands boss Xavi.

Ezri Konsa recently pulled out of the England squad after suffering a knock in the 7-0 win over Croatia.

Meanwhile, the attacking duo of Christos Tzolis and Kai Havertz withdrew from the Greece and Germany squads, respectively, due to hamstring issues.