Mikel Arteta has reportedly told Emile Smith Rowe that he wants him to stay at Arsenal next season amid rumours the England Under-21 international could be on his way out of the Emirates this summer.
Smith Rowe burst on to the scene with Bukayo Saka at the end of 2020 but has since fallen behind his fellow academy graduate at Arsenal, and failed to start a single Premier League game last season.
That lack of game time has seen him tipped for the Gunners exit, but transfer insider Charlie Watts told TEAMtalk that Arteta has decided he wants the 22-year-old to stay beyond the summer.
“He’s certainly not on the Arsenal scrapheap,” Watts said. “Mikel Arteta has told him that he wants him to stay. I think going into the summer, I thought there was a good chance he could probably go… But by all accounts they want him to stay and are going to give him an opportunity, which I’m really happy with.
“We all kind of forget how good Emile Smith Rowe is and how good he was when he burst onto the scene. Injuries have obviously hampered him a lot but he’s got so much to give. He’s such a good player. He’s so smart, he’s technically excellent, he can finish. And he’s got everything you need to be successful in this Arsenal team.
“Just because he’s been out for such a long period of time, a lot of fans have kind of forgotten about that. And, you know, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Smith Rowe makes a big, big impact next season. He just needs chances.
“I think one of the big errors that Arteta made last season was the way he rotated his squad. There were a lot of opportunities, especially in the second half of last season, when Smith Rowe was fit. He had the opportunities to get him some minutes and start putting pressure on those in front of him in the first team. But he just didn’t do it. He just didn’t bring him off the bench and didn’t give him the game time he needed.
“So I just hope that this season is different and he does give him some minutes to try and impress because he’s a hell of a talent. I think a lot of people have forgotten just how good he is. I think he’s really special.”