Emile Smith Rowe says he’s aiming for regular first team football as soon as possible and dismissed the idea of going on loan this season.
Arsenal confirmed today that the teenager has been rewarded for his performances in the recent tour of Singapore with a new long-term contract.
The England youth international earned plaudits for his scoring cameo against Atletico Madrid and then came off the bench versus Paris Saint Germain to assist Alex Lacazette.
Not a bad few days, given he also turned 18 last Saturday.
Speaking to The Times (£) about his whirlwind summer, Smith Rowe made clear that he’s now aiming even higher.
“Going on loan isn’t really an option,” he explained. “My goal has always been to get into the first team as early as I can. I’ve always wanted to play for Arsenal.
“I remember watching players like Fabregas and Van Persie at The Emirates when I was in the academy. They were my idols.”
Despite being part of the Arsenal academy set-up from the age of 6, Smith Rowe didn’t get to make his first team debut under Arsene Wenger. Instead, he’s been welcomed into the fold by Unai Emery – presumably on the advice of others at London Colney – and is relishing the Spaniard’s hands-on style.
“Unai is very involved on the training pitch and likes to stop the session a lot,” he said.
“He’s very tactical and I think it really helps us as a team and it’s really enjoyable to be involved and able to speak so much more.
“I think the manager is trying to bring his culture to the club and if it works it’s going to be really great.”
The youngster also had warm words for teammates Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who’ve both taken time out to pass him advice.
“Lacazette and Aubameyang pulled me to the side and just told me to relax and believe in myself,” he revealed.
“To listen to the others and, if I made a mistake, just to carry on and not to think about it too much. I’m not going to be perfect but to have players like them to help me gives me so much confidence.”
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It’s worth reading the full interview with @AlexKJTimes, there are some interesting snippets about Smith Rowe’s background.
Good luck young man. I hope you score loads of goals for The Arsenal….and your’e allowed to take shots from outside the area now too
In my days, you can only walk the ball to the goal.
Non of this non sense of taking shots, from outside the goal….
The sky is the limit for the lad.
There’s the Europa league and cup games for playing time, and the fact that our loans haven’t had the best results lately means that I can see where he’s coming from.
I would caution him (and the Club) against taking such an emphatic position though, a loan offer from a strong club in a good league, with a decent set up and a similar playing style to ours would have to be given the consideration it deserves. Either way I’m keen to see how he develops.
Looking forward to see what this kid can do in an arsenal jersey
His mention of Fabregas is pretty fucking prescient.
If Fabregas could be doing first team stuff at 16, then there’s no reason why Emile can’t be doing it at 18. Look after him, by all means, but, provided there’re no adverse signals, ease him into the first team this season, not next.
Engage the exact same philosophy that brought Kylian Mbappe his success.
I, for one, would have absolutely no problem with that.
I agree. If he can successfully make each next step, he’s got to play with and against the top level to become top level.
Yeh, and look what Jack was doing for us as an 18-year-old. (Shame the injuries mounted up) But if you’re good enough, you’re old enough.
I think the amount of games he played in the 2010/11 season contributed to his injuries later on. I remember thinking at the time that Wenger was over playing Jack. Must have played 40 plus games, which for an 18 year old is crazy.
With Smith-Rowe I think caution is needed.
No, nothing has to do with his careless diving into the tackles?
Let’s just say you’re probably both a bit right.
Guandouzi, Emile, Niles, Nketiah should all be regularly involved in the first team this season.
And Nelson
None of them looks out of place
And Nelson – he’s a real winger!
Yes sorry I missed Nelson 🙂
Yep, all have real quality. Surely they will get some starts against the likes of FK Qarabag (no disrespect to them)
But a ballance should be there, everyone knows you never win anything with kids… 😉
The chemistry inside the club sounds very healthy. Good work from Unai’s team so far
I would have to assume he’s been given assurances that he’ll get his chance to play, probably in the non league cup thing
You know, they should just call it that. I can never keep up with the name changes. It’s still the Carling cup to me. Nothing since has been a beer so I stopped paying attention.
I liked capital one cup because it sounded like “cock”. Mature, I know.
Worthington Cup forever and always
Too young for assurances. In fact, i’d go as far to say that NO player should be given assurances regarding playing time as selection should be merit based.
Makes for a more competitive squad i think.
I agree, I meant assurances that if he works hard he’ll get his shot, not that he’ll get games regardless.
Either way he must think he can play
I want him to score a hat trick and the headline to be something along the lines of Rowe Rowe Rowe the (Arsenal) Boat.
Maybe against Newcastle so it can be ‘gently up the Tyne’, too.
He should get a decent amount of time in the Europa league and I expect to see him play in some of the other cup matches too. If he does well am sure he will get minutes in the premier league. I like this lad, hope he can make it.
I like his attitude, but he needs to think carefully about his future.
There’s nothing wrong with going out on loan, as long as you get game time at a quality club in quality competitions. At his age he needs to be playing every week: I doubt that he will at the Grove. There is too much quality ahead of him.
So he should go out on loan and improve.
The problem is our loan stars have predominantly been underwhelming
you don’t need to be playing every week at 18 ffs
Yes you do!! At this stage of his development he needs lots of games in order to improve his game. The odd Leage Cup game won’t do.
You can write an entire book about the importance of regular playing on player development, and why it’s bad for promising players to hang around in the reserves of big teams.
Take a look at Chelsea if you don’t believe me.
I did look at Chelsea and still don’t believe you. First, he will be getting “lots of games” by staying. Much more so than him going out on loan where history tells us he simply won’t get played. Just how many players get loaned out and hardly play a game? Or to put it another way … just how many players get loaned out and play regularly with his peers if not betters? The problem is lower league managers prefer solid, reliable, third-rate journeymen not ‘the next big thing’ no matter how ‘next’ and ‘big’ they might be. Lower league… Read more »
I don’t think your post was long enough.
The likes of Lukaku, Mo Salah and De Bruyne were all at the Chaves and all had their development stunted. After they left they were finally able to become the great players they became. Why? Because they got quality playing time somewhere else. I’m not suggesting that our young players go to Rochdale. A couple of seasons in the top leagues of Holland, Italy, France or Germany would do them a world of good. English under-21 competitions are simply not the same. I don’t care too much for the England national side, but one of the main reasons why England… Read more »
Mo Salah joined Chelsea when he was 21. Loaned out to Fiorentina and Roma, he eventually joined the latter a year-and-a-half later after realizing he was in direct competition with Eden Hazard. Kevin de Bruyne joined Chelsea when he was 21. He went straight out on loan to Bremen where he had a pretty decent season. Back at Chelsea he got injured, played just three times, and was sold on to Wolfsburg. Romelu Lukaku was 19 when he joined Chelsea. Got loaned out to WBA and Everton who he eventually joined in 2014 (aged 21). All three were spectacularly mishandled… Read more »
“All three were spectacularly mishandled by Chelsea…”
And I suppose Arsenal will handle them better? Look at this list:
The Ox.
Walcott.
David Bentley.
Ya Ya Sir No Goals
Nicky B.
Alialialialialaiaire.
Chuba Akprom.
Jack Wilshere.
Francis Jeffers.
Gervinho
Djouru
and many, many more…
All “promising” players who turned out to be duds!
Our recent record in developing players is crap! Maybe in your fantasy world we’re Barcelona with La Masia but the truth is we haven’t developed a world class player since Ashley Cole.
If anybody’s penning bollocks then it’s you.
The paradox is: if he’s good enough to get game time at a quality club in quality competitions, why wouldn’t he be good enough to fight for a place at Arsenal, especially for a new manager with no favourites and who clearly rates him?
Mid-table PL club (eg Everton) that’s not as intense as those challenging for top-4 wouldn’t be a bad shout. I think given the pressure we will face this season it may not always be optimal.
Think he’s better off training with the first team for a season than playing a lower level. And he will be playing every week in the PL2 as well as in the first team for cup competitions. If he impresses then he’ll be worked into the squad with some cameo appearances off the bench in the PL.
Still better off on loan IMO. Get him regular playing time. In and around the first team, he may have the league cup, maybe an FA cup appearance or two but not anywhere near enough. At this stage, he just needs to be playing. Ditto for one of Mavropanos or Holding when Koscielny returns and same maybe for Nketiah (or Nelson) They’re not going to get better sitting on the bench. Ideally what we would want is half a season loan but that all depends on the clubs they go out to. Also where they go will be equally important.… Read more »
Even though he may not be ready for the Premier League, for which I think it is nonsense because if he wants to come into the team then he must stand out at the age of 18 already (like Wilshere and Fabregas did), it is in my opinion for the best that he does his first year in the senior team with is us to see how the things ran.
Aubameyang, what a guy. He always brings hard work and a smile, and he’s so so important to this team already. Look at Lacazette before, and after Auba came. And the way they’ve really taken care of Guendouzi.
Auba’s positivity is spreading like the plauge on an island.
Damn it feels good to be a gooner.
If a decent team wants him on loan AND guarantees him a reasonable amount of 1st team game time in one of his preferred positions then he should go.
” … dismissed the idea of going on loan this season.”
So, are you going to be the one tell him he’s wrong and shatter his dream of staying?
Even Burnley didn’t guarantee senior player Wilshere, a place in their starting XI. Also, Wenger didn’t send Fabregas and Jack on loan at same age.