According to The Athletic (£), Arsenal are looking to tie down Emile Smith Rowe to a new contract befitting of his increased status at the club.
The England under-21 international has cemented his first team credentials since an impressive performance against Chelsea in December making a total of 27 appearances so far this season.
The 20-year-old still has two years left to run on a contract he signed in 2018 which was handed to him by Unai Emery following an eye-catching pre-season in the Spaniard’s first year.
In the last year, the Gunners have persuaded Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka and, today, Folarin Balogun to commit their long-term futures to Arsenal. Getting Smith Rowe to do the same would further underline our commitment to giving young players a clear pathway to the first team.
Of course, it doesn’t always work out for all the Academy prospects. In the same article, David Ornstein suggests that Reiss Nelson could leave the club this summer while Newcastle manager Steve Bruce has made it clear he’d like to sign Joe Willock if he’s made available by Mikel Arteta.
Elsewhere, there are reports floating around that Spotify founder Daniel Ek has joined forces with Patrick Vieira, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry to discuss a possible takeover bid. The Swede, whose net worth is estimated by Forbes to be approximately £3.3 billion, professed his love for the club on social media on Friday.
24 hours earlier, Josh Kroenke told supporters at the club’s Fans’ Forum that he and his father have no intention of selling up.
Why are they even talking? Just give him 2M per week
Silly comment. How can you call yourself gooner with a take like that?
We’ll give him that salary when he turns 32
With a 3 year deal
£2m + 1
If Titi, Viera and Dennis are on board … need I say more? COYG!
Who in their right minds could refuse that lot? A Dream Team.
I for one am never fond of Vieira’s comments about the club. He always shows no love at all. It’s surprising he even wants to own any part of The Arsenal. He’d probably buy a piece of Citeh more eagerly.
I can’t fault his performance on the pitch for the club though. Always committed and top drawer. But I feel he really needs to drop the indifference. My thoughts.
I’m keen. But not sure why this news is buried at the bottom of a contract update..
Surely deserves it’s own article if legit
And.. there we go
Reports suggest another protest is being organized on 6 May. Hope it’s true. let’s push Kroenke out, now is our chance.
Brilliant. Smoke Bomb Central.
If it goes ahead, I’ll be there. 👍🍺
KROENKE OUT👋
EK, HENRY, BERGKAMP AND VIEIRA IN.🍾🥂
Ek doesn’t have enough money, how much debt would he saddle the club with? Henry and Vieira can’t manage their way out of a paper bag, they’ve been fired by every club they’ve managed and Bergkamp ended up with huge fights at Ajax. A dream team? Not for me.
I fully agree with every word you said. However, will they be an improvement on what we have, I tend to think so. It doesn’t say as much as it says about the current lot – fit for a middle table, not one of ‘superior’ league ambitions.
Having debt is one of those things that looks bad in the press but in reality isn’t a major issue for most clubs, in the same way that every country in the world has a huge debt. Leveraged debt allows for massive success (see United, Barcelona and Madrid) and when managed properly isn’t damaging to a club’s financial welbeing, and many studies back this up (For e.g. Sloane 1971). Ek is exciting because he has already built one hugely succesful business that understands market growth is more important than yearly profits, and the same pricniple could be very effectively applied… Read more »
We must send him back to the hole whence he came.
I think it’s the triumph of hope over expectation. Stan has never sold a sporting franchise. It doesn’t mean we couldn’t be the first, but it’s really not that likely.
Yeah he knows this will blow over and fans will almost certainly surrender to watching their beloved game again. I hope I’m wrong, but I see the only way that happens is through concerted and sustained protests including cancelling subscriptions, not buying season tickets and empty stadiums even when fans are allowed back. Chances of that actually happening seem slim at best.
Let’s give all this a real go and see. At least we would have tried.
Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it lads. I will not tire saying: boycott official Arsenal, don’t buy anything, don’t engage, don’t attend matches. Let’s try to hit KSE where it hurts (revenue and reputation) and see where it goes.
Stan has also never owned a sporting franchise that was not in a closed league, that could not “rebuild” (ie, be hugely unsuccessful for several years with few financial consequences), that was not in fact rewarded for failure by having higher “draft choices” (ie, exclusive rights to sign a young player), and–especially in the NFL and NHL–a very hard team salary cap that absolutely limited possible expenditures.
I make no prediction, but what Kroenke does in the NFL is not necessarily a good predictor of what he will do with Arsenal.
Just before one of the most important matches of the season? Fuck off with your protests, Kronke is going nowhere and all it’s doing is harming the team.
Ek Yes!
Wonder what’s going to happen with arsenal in the coming months. Will Kroenke sell? Will Daniel Ek (assuming he’s the one who buys) be any better? You have to ask, what is he first, an Arsenal fan or a billionaire? Let’s just say, I don’t think you become a billionaire unless you put money first above literally all else. Can a club like arsenal, who money-wise will always be dealing with these “billionaire types” ever have an owner we truly like? Truthfully, I’m not so sure. All I can hope for is an owner who isn’t so negatively intrusive as… Read more »
Well, he is a Swede for one and founded Spotify, so not the type of Billionaire that Kroenke/Walmart is. If he was smart he would buy the club and then establish a fan ownership structure like in the Bundesliga, that way partly re-couping the purchase fee by selling shares. Sell shares at a valuation 500M above the purchase price and he could raise cash for a re-build.
It must be a priority to try and tie him down to a new deal. Thank goodness we’re not repeating the errors of the past (and the present, in some cases) and letting his contract run down to its final year before starting negations on a new one. Have Arsenal finally learned the lesson? Let’s hope so.
Depends on who owns this club and the cash levels that become freely available. That’s invested cash, not a fucking loan to be paid back.
Flipping Ek! Having 3 Arsenal legends buy the club seems too good to be true … Not holding my breath
Give him the contract, give him more confidence. ESR is a big part of our future as a club
Daniel Ek can f*ck right the f*ck off. He’s worth 3.3bn at the expense of musicians (like myself). I’d sooner see a consortium of Piers Morgan, Prince Andrew & Putin buy the club (ok maybe not, but still).
I could live with Andrew and Putin but please, not Piers Morgan.
I can’t help but wince at the attitudes I’m seeing here. You don’t become a billionaire by being nice, so trading one for another doesn’t really seem smart. Ek or whoever. It’s so disappointing that Sky, Uefa etc have managed to deflect away from the real issues the Super League represents: outrageous ownership structures and greed at the expense of fans. Kronke is a symptom of an already rotten game. Trading him for another will solve nothing. I want him out the club too, but not for another billionaire. We need to change how clubs are run and owned if… Read more »
If EK did take over, and one of his conditions was we install Henry as manager and get rid of Mikel. Would you hesitate to do it?
The only way Stan would sell is if we are relegation candidates and fans are only allowed in limited numbers for the foreseeable future.
Basically if he can’t leverage as much as he could before.
Wishing his business is a house of cards and once one topples the rest will follow
If ALL arsenal fans boycotted the stadium for home games, the news of repeatedly empty stadium would be huge, globally, and I’m confident the kroenkes would be forced to sell within a matter of weeks. Sadly, I accept there is a zero chance of fans boycotting, far too short sighted.
Hit the nail on the head. Football fans could end the sickening state of the game in a year if they wanted to. Boycott games, don’t pay the sky/BT subscriptions. But again, you’re right, it won’t happen
Regarding any possible takeover, I accept that Kroenke has never sold any of his American franchises. However, if the European Super League has shown us one thing it is how important generating greater income is to the owners of these clubs. The pandemic is a game changer, apart from sport the world’s central banks have been on an unprecedented printing spree that could have far reaching consequences. At present Arsenal may be valued by Stan and the family at £2 Billion but in a post pandemic world where there may be real changes to club income by way of TV… Read more »