Unless you’ve had a keen eye on Arsenal’s under-18s and under-23s in recent seasons, you may only recently be acquainted with Emile Smith Rowe.
The 17-year-old left-sided midfielder is the youngest member of Unai Emery’s Singapore tour squad and the latest Academy graduate to be tipped to make an impact with the first team.
A couple of weeks ago Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, having played alongside him at Boreham Wood, was happy to retweet praise for the teenager and now our new head coach has admitted he’s similarly impressed by his potential.
“First of all the club have given me a young player with a present and future in this club,” Emery told Arsenal.com.
“Emile is one of the club’s recommendations to come on tour with us and I am very happy with him.
“He’s played in every youth national team, from under-17s to under-15s. He’s improving, thanks to his work in the Arsenal Academy, and he’s close to expressing his quality with the first team.
“He’s 17 so I think this is the moment for Emile Smith Rowe and I’m very happy with him.”
The head coach went on: “We want to create one mentality. We want to create one team who plays with a big personality to become protagonists in each match.
“Now it’s very important for me to look at every player and also the young players.
“It’s a good moment for the young players to express themselves, to work every day, to show us their quality.
“They are working with our senior players every day and I think although it’s every player’s chance to prove themselves, it’s a good time for the young players to work with us to express their quality.”
It’s something of an Arsenal tradition to give promising youngsters game time as part of pre-season and all too often, it’s very easy to get caught up in the hype that surrounds their eye-catching performances.
The Jeff and Gedion Zelalem – both incredibly talented – have struggled, for various reasons, to make the next step up. If there’s a plus for Smith Rowe, it’s that our Europa League status could well play in his favour.
Keep working hard and he might be able to consolidate his credentials in the same way that Eddie Nketiah, Joe Willock and Reiss Nelson did last year in that competition. He’s definitely one to keep an eye on.
Here’s hoping he gets a run out against Atletico Madrid tomorrow.
Looked great vs the lesser teams. Can’t wait to see what he brings vs bigger ones
Well I guess!
So glad to see another one of the Academy boys making the breakthrough.
Hope Smith Rowe can come good.
Talking of The Jeff, he is signing on loan for Angers again, he was at their training ground today.
Sadly it’s permanent. Not a loan
apparently it’s permanent 🙁
This guy excite me, I have a strong feeling that he is going to be great ??
Is it me or does Unai really use the word “protagonists” a lot? I’m not complaining though because it makes me feel all fuzzy inside and sounds like we would be aggressive or looking to ensure we dictate play.
‘Protagonist’ is not exactly the same in English and Spanish. It’s used much more often in day to day language in Spanish and means to take a central and important role in something. Think of Wenger’s ‘many captains on the pitch’ idea, kind of the same thing.
Oh I see.. Thanks Eric.
It’s still so weird seeing Emery’s name instead of Arsenes, isn’t it?
he is far better than Willock, he ought to get a few games this season
Should go on loan to benefit from hard knocks. Too early to keep in first team.
Only players that should be considered near first team next season would be :
Nelson or Nketiah up top.
The Jeff or Guendouzi in midfield (assuming AMN is good for a permanent berth)
Holding or Mavropanos when Koscielny returns.
I am afraid the Jeff has been sold to Angers in France
I am pleased Emery agrees with me! This is going well…:-)
Look forward to seeing Emile get some first team exposure in the League Cup and early rounds of the UEFA Cup.
Very impressive in the FAYC final despite Chelsea being so dominant in both legs.
Boy does he look young