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You're kidding? Roo on Dowman's debut
Daily Express
|August 26, 2025
15-YEAR-OLD BRINGS IT ALL BACK FOR THE ORIGINAL BOY WONDER
WAYNE ROONEY said it was “surreal” watching the schoolboy Max Dowman make his Premier League debut for Arsenal.
Midfielder Dowman introduced himself on the big stage when he came on as a 64th-minute substitute in the thumping 5-0 win against Leeds on Saturday.
Dowman was aged 15 years and 235 days and it brought back memories for ex-England captain Rooney, the Premier League’s original boy wonder.
Rooney, now 39, scored a sensational winner against Arsenal back in October 2002 just two months after making his topflight debut with Everton and when he was still only 16.
Fast forward 23 years and Rooney was watching Dowman’s debut alongside his son Kai, also 15, who had scored his first goal for Manchester United’s Under-18s earlier that day.
It brought it all home.
Rooney, on his own BBC podcast, said: “I was there sat with my son and my son is older than him!
This story is from the August 26, 2025 edition of Daily Express.
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