Just 15, Dowman would already be a senior Arsenal player if not for Premier League rules denying players registered with the U16 team as being eligible for the first team.
Arteta said on Friday: “Let’s see how this evolves but we have certainly got a big, big talent there for the near future.
“But now he is involved in the squad. He trains with us a lot. Does that mean he will play in the Premier League many games?
“I don’t know, depends how good he is and how impressive he is and how much he offers the team like Ethan (Nwaneri), like Myles (Lewis-Skelly), like any other player in the squad.
“He is on the right pathway and everybody in the academy has done an incredible job to consistently protect him, inspire him, challenge him, keep him always up.
“He is doing the right steps and taking it slowly. He will dictate how fast we go.”
Arteta also said: "But if you look from afar and you don’t know he is 15 and you see certain things that he does, you have to judge him on that — you wouldn’t think he was different to any other player.”