Arsenal told they have player just like Lamine Yamal - 'I couldn't believe it'

Arsenal defender Cristhian Mosquera has been speaking about his first few months at the Emirates Stadium and which stars have surprised him

Cristhian Mosquera has given a rave review about Arsenal youngster Max Dowman, claiming the 15-year-old is 'Lamine-esque' with a comparison to the Barcelona superstar Lamine Yamal.

Dowman made his Premier League debut earlier this season, winning a penalty against Leeds United and is highly rated by Gunners' boss Mikel Arteta.

Dowman has been on the fringes of the first-team squad over the last 18 months and there's a belief that Arsenal have a real special talent in their ranks.

"I don’t mean to compare, but his style and way of playing is like Lamine Yamal," Mosquera told The Athletic. "His movements are Lamine-esque.

"I didn’t have him on my radar and when I got to Singapore, he was already training and playing. When they told me he was 15, I couldn’t believe it. He really is an incredible player, and I think he’s going to be world-class.

"You see 17-and 18-year-olds like Myles (Lewis-Skelly) or Ethan (Nwaneri) and they play like they’re 30, like they’ve been playing football their whole lives. It’s incredible."

Arteta has been keen to manage expectations around Dowman's development and when asked by football.london how senior players have reacted to training alongside the youngster, the Arsenal boss gave a brilliant response.

"At the beginning, they responded immediately, kick him!" he laughed. "That was the first one.

"And Max, to be fair, he was excellent. He stood up and got into the next one. You can really take an impression of someone who was 14 last year at some point when he was doing certain things to players.

"And now, yeah, everybody loves him. You just want to hug him, help him. He's such a nice boy as well, and he's very much liked by everybody here. And just looking after us.

"It brings responsibility to look after somebody with that talent and make sure we just do what we have to do to make sure we're giving him the best chance to exploit his talent. That's all."