Emile Smith Rowe started his career with a bang. The English midfielder started most of the games in the Premier League for Arsenal as a twenty-year-old under Arteta. He was viewed as a franchise player by fans and pundits. Four years later he finds himself ten miles away from the Emirates, playing for Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Lack of game time is the biggest reason behind his departure. After his move to Fulham for £34 million, he has been playing regularly. Emile Smith Rowe is excited to be at his new club and is in tune with boss Marco Silva. His old boss, Mikel Arteta did say that he failed to get the best out of ESR and feels sad about him leaving. Let’s look at how he has been without Arsenal, the reason behind his departure, and how The Gunners could’ve used him right now.
Emile Smith Rowe at Fulham
Since making his league debut for Fulham against Manchester United in the first match of the season, he has netted home two goals and provided 1 assist in the next four games. He has started in seven of the eight matches and has been one of the best players for Fulham this season. Along with Andreas Pereira, Emile Smith Rowe is the heart behind Fulham’s attack. The English midfielder is finally getting the minutes that he deserved.
The last goal at Arsenal before he came to Fulham was in April 2022. After he scored in just the second league game for Fulham, the midfielder said he was relieved. He talked about how he hadn’t felt like this in a long time. Emile Smith Rowe said the decision to leave Arsenal was the toughest he has ever made. What could have been the reason behind him taking such a tough decision?
Why did he leave?
After making his debut in the 2019/20 season for Arsenal, he became a starter for the club in the next few seasons. Injuries kept him out for 110 days in the 20/21 season but he still played 20 league games during the season. During the 21/22 season, he was at his best for The Gunners. He scored ten goals in the season, for context he has scored a total of twelve goals for Arsenal in five seasons.
Injuries in the next season meant he did not start a single league game out of the twelve total appearances. Arteta did play him whenever he was fit but in the next season, he was mostly an unused sub. He started in three games and looked out of favor.
Emile Smith Rowe talked about how playing for the club is the dream for any academy player. He did make it to the team at the start but did not play enough in the last two years. A talented player like him cannot waste his potential sitting on the bench. He talked about how he spoke to family and friends before deciding to leave. ESR called it probably the toughest decision he has taken so far.
Arteta could’ve used him during Odegaard’s absence
The Spaniard did not suffer any major injury blows to the squad in the last two seasons. This time the story is very different. Martin Odegaard, the captain of the squad has been out for more than a month now. More importantly, Bukayo Saka skipped the trip to Vitality Stadium, where Arsenal suffered their first loss of the season.
Raheem Sterling could play Saka’s role, but not with the same quality now that he is much older. But, Arsenal have a player in Sterling who does a lot of what Saka does. They don’t have the same depth for the number ten role. Emile Smith Rowe would’ve seamlessly glided into the starting eleven during this period. Even Ethan Nwaneri could do that, but like ESR, I believe that Areta doesn’t trust him either. I hope that Arteta doesn’t rob Arsenal of another quality youngster in Ethan Nwaneri as it happened with Emile Smith Rowe.
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