Mikel Merino makes bold Lamine Yamal comparison as he hails Arsenal’s ‘unbelievable’ teenage sensation Max Dowman

Despite his obvious ability, Dowman remains grounded at the club. Merino stressed that integrating such a young talent requires a delicate balance of encouragement and reality checks.

“The good thing with these kind of players – Lamine and Max – is that they are special talents, but at the same time they are very humble,” Merino added. “They are always keen to learn and listen to the veterans. That is priceless.

“So, we are very happy to have him, but at the same time he knows that we are here to help him and sometimes even if we push him a little bit, he knows it’s for his own good. He is a very good kid.

“He is a big talent, and we have to take care of him. We have to keep pushing him. He needs to keep learning – eyes and ears open always. There is still big room for improvement in a lot of areas and he knows that, so we are going to be by his side trying to get him to his best level.”