Exit interviews: Emile Smith Rowe

The academy product isn’t getting regular time for the second season in a row. Is this the end?

Exit Interviews is a series where Scott and Adam share their opinions on next steps for select Arsenal players. The series will run through June.

The situation of Emile Smith Rowe is tough. He has gone from a key player that helped spark the Arsenal rebirth under Mikel Arteta to a player that gets only sporadic minutes.

Much of this was down to the injuries that he sustained along the way but he has been mostly healthy this season and played 486 minutes in all competitions over 4 starts and 19 total matches played.

We are bringing back the exit interview series and starting with perhaps the most complicated of the players that will feature on this list. What is next for Smith Rowe and does it include a place at Arsenal?

Adam: Mikel Arteta ought to ask himself a very simple question about Emile Smith Rowe: Do I trust him to win the games Arsenal needs to win?

We all know Emile has had his struggles with fitness since injury and inconsistent form led to Gabriel Martinelli yoinking his starting spot in 2021 and never giving it back. But these days, Arteta seems to have at least two, if not more, alignments he’d go to before starting Emile in the case of injury or fatigue to a regular. The unspoken truth in this case seems to be that ESR just isn’t what you’d consider a “key backup.”

Maybe there are reasons for that other than belief in the player. I’d personally call his form up and down over the past two seasons, and I’ve written before that I think even his breakout was a little fluky (or everyone’s favorite buzzword, “unsustainable”).

There certainly is a legion of Arsenal fans who believe Smith Rowe should be starting next to Saka with Ødegaard moving left, somewhere he’s never played, unlocking the mythical Hale End chemistry. They tout his ability to receive on the half turn and run with the ball, which is definitely his strength. That midfield may be more than a little weak in duels, though, and historically has struggled when it’s been deployed. I’m not sure Arteta has loved what he’s seen to date.

But if the reason he’s not playing is because the staff doesn’t think he’s on the level needed, it’s not doing anyone any favors to keep Smith Rowe around, even if we love him to death.

Adam’s Verdict: You may say that I’m a dreamer, but there could be a solid market for Emile Smith Rowe’s services. There’s a wild rumour floating around that Ipswich Town want him for somewhere near £30m, but let’s not set our watches to that.

Unless Chelsea are still interested, it’s better to use clubs lower on the table to set this market, and I put Smith Rowe overall somewhere between Hamed Junior Traoré, who joined Bournemouth for about £22m, and Crystal Palace’s Matheus França, a £17m signing.

ESR is the best player of those three, but his injury history and relatively low standing in the squad will ding Arsenal’s leverage, and the market may be a bit slower this summer due to financial regulations. I’d accept a £20m offer in a heartbeat and have to seriously ponder one for £15m. Ultimately I wouldn’t be completely shocked to see something more in the low teens that could go higher with playing-time-based add-ons or other clauses.

Scott: It's unfortunate, but it seems we've been stuck in the same discussion about Emile Smith Rowe for two years now. Trying to determine just how good he is these days after the injuries and time on the bench and where does he fit in the plans at Arsenal.

He's a player we hold dear, but logically, it appears we're all coming to accept that it's highly improbable for him to become a regular at Arsenal. It's disheartening and indicative of the team's progress that a player of his quality is becoming surplus to requirements, but that's the reality.

In the past two seasons, he's accumulated less than 700 minutes of play across all competitions. He's contended with nagging injuries and even underwent surgery in September 2022 to address them, yet his position in the squad remains unchanged.

The larger issue for Smith Rowe, and what makes me quite more certain it's not just the injuries sidelining him, is his level of play. Arsenal needed him when they were mid-table, but he hasn't evolved and developed sufficiently to be a player that is trusted beyond occasional starts and a bench role on a title-contending team.

He stats, including his two season’s where he played regularly just look average.

The eye test perhaps has looked a bit better but there is just so little time lately where we have seen him play that it often feels like we are wish casting him playing well when he does get on the field.

He is at a point in his career where he needs to play and the team needs someone else that they trust to give more than a few minutes to. That leads me to a sad but expected conclusion for my verdict.

Scott’s verdict: Sell, valuation is hard and I will write more but my gut is saying anything over 10 million is probably enough here and maybe there are some add-ons for playing time and other potential bonuses.