Arsenal are open to allowing teenage prodigy Max Dowman to leave the club on loan this term if it aids his development.
Last season, the 16-year-old set two records, as the youngest player to score in Premier League history and for the Gunners.
However, while he is yet to feature in the English top flight this term, he marked his first appearance of the season with two goals in Arsenal’s 4-2 win at Ipswich in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.
And while his manager Mikel Arteta stressed that he is keen to keep the youngster involved in his senior squad, he said the club will evaluate what is best for Dowman at regular intervals.
“We will evaluate every six months where we are and what is the best thing for him to do and then make the right decision,” Arteta said.
“It depends on a lot of factors. What he needs, and what the team needs as well, the availability we have in the squad, the minutes that he is playing and the qualities of those minutes.
“We have to be open, but now the focus is to be here and to impact the team.”
Dowman, who completed his GCSEs in the summer, will be eligible to make a loan move when he turns 17 on 31 December.
The winter transfer window is scheduled to open the following day, with League One side Luton’s manager Jack Wilshere, the former Arsenal midfielder, believed to have expressed an interest in taking the youngster on loan.
“We haven’t really listened to any of the possibilities because we were crystal clear that we wanted to have Max in the squad, that we wanted him to be part of the pre-season and then start to see where we are from there,” Arteta added.