It could be argued that the single most important day in Mikel Arteta’s managerial career was Boxing Day of 2020. Before kick-off against Chelsea that evening, Arteta’s Arsenal were 15th in the Premier League table and on a disastrous run of seven league matches without a victory. Arteta’s project, still in its infancy, was on the brink of complete collapse.
In those dark days, Arsenal were so desperately bad that Sam Allardyce, then the West Bromwich Albion manager, even described them as relegation candidates. Telegraph Sport understands that people close to Arteta seriously feared the Spaniard was about to lose his job, and that they were actively preparing for such an outcome.
But then, like a burst of light in the darkness, along came Emile Smith Rowe. The academy graduate made his first league start of the campaign in that fateful Boxing Day meeting with Chelsea, and he transformed the team. Arsenal won 3-1. Suddenly, they had renewed energy, courage, invention and drive.
Smith Rowe went on to start the next nine league matches, establishing himself as the link between midfield and attack that Arsenal craved. He and Bukayo Saka, another academy graduate, effectively triggered the revolution that has resulted in Arsenal becoming the formidable, title-challenging unit we see now.
Such has been the speed of that revolution, though, that Smith Rowe has been left behind. For various reasons, including injury issues, he has not been able to maintain the eye-watering pace that Arteta and Arsenal have set. In the past two league campaigns, he made just three starts and scored zero goals.
By the midway point of last season, it had become an inescapable truth that Smith Rowe, now 24, needed to leave the club he first joined at the age of 10. The question was not whether he would depart, but where he would go – and how much Arsenal would get for him.
We now have the answers: Fulham have signed him in a deal that could ultimately be worth £34 million. On first viewing, it appears to be one of those rare transfers that suits all parties: Arsenal are getting good money for an academy product, Fulham are getting an England international and Smith Rowe is getting a chance to play regularly in the Premier League.
On an emotional level, however, this is a hard deal for Arsenal staff and supporters to stomach. Smith Rowe is not just one of their own, but also one of the most important figures in their rebuild under Arteta. It will pain many Arsenal fans to know that ‘Saka and Emile Smith Rowe’, to the tune of Status Quo’s Rockin’ All Over The World, will not be sung again at the Emirates Stadium.
How did it come to this point? Of all the many factors, fitness is perhaps the most significant. In September 2022, Smith Rowe had surgery on a groin problem that had bothered him for months. He did not play again until January 2023, when Arsenal were eight points clear at the top of the league with a settled team.
Those were crucial months, in which Martin Odegaard established himself as one of Europe’s finest playmakers, and Smith Rowe was simply unable to build momentum. Another injury at the start of last season had a similar effect, and the arrivals of Declan Rice and Kai Havertz pushed him further down the midfield pecking order.
It must also be said, though, that Arteta never seemed entirely convinced that Smith Rowe would be a long-term, undisputed starter for his Arsenal team. Even when Smith Rowe was at his best, the Arsenal manager often spoke about him in different tones to players such as Saka and Odegaard.
After a victory over West Brom in May 2021, for example, Arteta was offered a chance to praise Smith Rowe for scoring his first goal of the campaign. He responded by effectively reminding the player of how much he still needed to progress.
“He is having an incredible season ever since he started to play,” Arteta said. “But he’s scoring his first Premier League goal. An incredible season for a No 10 of Arsenal means he needs to score 15 goals and give 10 assists. Then you are right up there with the top guys in Europe and in the league. He’s got the ability to do it but he hasn’t done it.”
Some around the club feel that Arteta is a manager who has his favourites, and that Smith Rowe has never truly been among them. The fact that Arsenal have signed Odegaard, Fabio Vieira, Havertz and Rice in recent years is further evidence that Smith Rowe was not considered the main man in that position.
Tactically, too, there have been changes that have not helped Smith Rowe. Some of his best games in the 2021-22 campaign came as a left-sided attacker who drifted inside but, by the start of 2022-23, Arteta wanted an outright winger in that position to provide width. Smith Rowe has never been that player.
He has since had to compete for a position as a “No 8” in a midfield three, rather than as a “No 10” in a more advanced role. There are more defensive requirements in such a setup, and Smith Rowe has not always looked comfortable with the position, compared to when he played further forward.
It is a combination of all these factors, plus Arsenal’s need to generate money through sales, that has led to Smith Rowe’s departure. At Fulham, he has a chance to rebuild his confidence and momentum, to once again demonstrate that enormous talent. At Arsenal, there will be sadness at his departure, but also gratitude for the vital role he played in their resurgence.
