Jack Wilshere says he would love to take Max Dowman and Ethan Nwaneri on loan at Luton Town next season, after telling talkSPORT this week that the answer to the idea was “yes!”
The former Arsenal midfielder, now in his first campaign as a senior manager, said he would gladly make the call himself if the right chance opened up. “Whoever Mikel doesn’t want, I’ll just call him and ask him,” he said, drawing a clear line to Mikel Arteta and Arsenal’s summer squad planning.
Wilshere was asked directly about the two academy talents and singled out Dowman with strong praise. “I’m sure he will (soon start Premier League games),” he said of the teenager. “He’s still really young. Honestly, I’d never seen anything like it when I had him in the Under-18s. The talent, the ability to change a game. It was unbelievable.”
He also pointed to Nwaneri’s path, saying the midfielder is “slightly more established” and had wanted to go out on loan and get some football with Marseille. That spell, Wilshere said, did not quite work out for him, but he insisted the experience would still have been valuable. “He would have learned so much about real live football,” he said. “He would have learned more than that over in Marseille with how emotional they are and the fans and what they demand. It’s different.”
The timing matters because pre-season could open the door for both players. Wilshere said that in pre-season “everyone gets a chance” and the minutes are shared, which could matter even more if the World Cup means senior internationals return late while Dowman and Nwaneri are available from the first session. For two young players trying to push into the senior picture, that kind of start can matter more than a long talk about potential.
Wilshere’s case is built on experience as much as enthusiasm. In his first season as senior manager, Luton Town won the EFL Trophy and narrowly missed the promotion play-offs, a start that gives his pitch some weight if Arsenal decide a loan is right. But he also made clear the final say sits elsewhere. Any move would depend on Arsenal’s squad planning this summer, and on whether both players show Arteta enough to earn a place in the team before loans are even discussed.
That is the friction inside the story: Wilshere wants them, but Arsenal may need them. Dowman’s rise has already drawn close attention, and Charlie Patino has reflected on that path from northern Spain in a separate interview linked here: Charlie Patino reflects on Max Dowman’s rise from northern Spain. For now, Wilshere’s message was simple. He believes both players have the ability to do it. The harder part is making sure they get the minutes, and then taking them when the chance comes.
