Morning all.
I’ll admit it, I’m feeling sad, disappointed and kind of angry too.
Emile Smith Rowe was once considered by many as Arsenal’s future, Arsenal’s future captain too. He was and no doubt still is, Arsenal through and through. His move away from the club feels wrong, a bit like when Michael Thomas was sold to Liverpool.
I know he’s struggled with injuries during his time at Arsenal but when he did play, he was such a joy to watch. Such a forward thinking player in terms of his style and wasn’t afraid to run at a defence. Perhaps that’s been his problem, not enough sideways and slow passes.
There is a lot more I could write about our old number 10 but what’s the point? All I wish for him now is a long, fit and healthy career in the game wherever it takes him, which for now is Fulham.
To the Arsenal family, I wasn’t sure where to start with this as it is the hardest message to write to you all.
I was ten years old when I first signed for this club, just a kid with no idea that I would go on to make over 100 appearances and wear the iconic no.10 for Arsenal. I’ve experienced so much here, met and played with the best and made so many memories that it’s hard to pick out the best moments.
There’s too many people to thank but I want to say thank you to all my teammates over the years, every staff member that’s helped me along the way and especially to you fans for making Arsenal *Home* to me for so long.
I’m ready to take on a new challenge now, I feel hungrier than ever and I have to give myself the opportunity to take the next step.
So thank you again to the Arsenal family, I’ll always appreciate you all.
“Love you my boy,” Eddie Nketiah posted on Instagram.
“It’s been an absolute pleasure. Go shine bro!” – Bukayo Saka.
“Going to miss you my brother,” Declan Rice.
“What a guy man,” Jurrien Timber.
“I’m gonna miss you bro,” Gabriel Magalhaes.
“Gonna miss sitting next to you everyday,” Aaron Ramsdale.
The last from Ramsdale will no doubt raise a few eyebrows but it’s true of last season. They were little more than bench mates along with Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah. All three are expected to leave the club this summer. Smith Rowe though, well he’s only ever been Arsenal whereas the other three were brought in from other clubs.
Mikel Arteta:
Emile’s commitment, attitude and energy every day was first class, always stepping up when the team needed him. He came into the first team and was instrumental during a difficult moment for us. He created an important impression, with his strong performances making our supporters proud. I’m sad that Emile is leaving us, but excited for him to take this new opportunity at this stage of his career, when he needs to be starting matches and playing regularly. Emile is loved by everyone at the club and leaves us with our gratitude, absolute respect and best wishes. We all wish Emile and his family well at Fulham.
Never mind Mikel, you have Fabio Vieira to call upon….
Catch up in the comments….
https://x.com/Arsenal/status/1819365155693613145
Great video of Emile….
Well put Rico, one of few player that have left were no fans or teammates say’s have a bad word against him, personally I think Fulham is a good club for him especially considering he is with 2 ex team mates
I too think he’ll excel at Fulham Geoff.
Pleased for him to have a second chance in his career, just feel flat that he’s left…
Best of luck to ESR.
I think Emile was unfortunately a victim of not only his susceptibility to injury but also to the fact the position he played in has evolved so much over the last couple of season – so much so there really wasn’t a place for him.
He has great technique and by all accounts a great attitude and work ethic. As long as he does us favours and not score against us I wish him the best.
That is real sadness indeed. When you see a homegrown being sold to ply his trade elsewhere. I wish him all the best. And will remember him fondly.
your post summed up my feelings exactly.
honestly I wanted Willock, Iwobi, ESR etc to succeed at Arsenal. nothing beats seeing one of your own making the grade and cementing himself in the team for decade or two.
Excellent post at a difficult time Rico, very well done.
The good thing is that, as a home grown player, the whole of the transfer fee goes into the profit column for P S O purposes.
To paraphrase the Casablanca quote “we’ll always have Fabio. 😉
And even though RAmsdale is not a Hale End product….he still feels one of us. And I saw him keeping his place till he turned 35. unfortunately someone else took his place.
Thanks Cicero.
There was always something special about Emile, more so than other academy players and perhaps that’s because like Bukayo Saka, he’s a real talent. And they’re our own.
Devil, ditto, I want them all to succeed too although I know not all will, in fact very few will. Smith Rowe is the only one for a long time whose exit has got to me.
Gabriel Jesus has been linked with a move the the Saudi Pro League where clubs are reportedly willing to pay £60m for his services. This would be a substantial fee that Arsenal may be forced to accept, as it’s £15m more than they paid for the 28-year-old in 2022. There’s a flight to Riyadh leaving Heathrow a midnight tonight with vacancies in First Class.😉
They would send a private jet , can we get them to give us a bit more and take Nketiah as well if only to clean his boots. Bit harsh I suppose but it’s not that he is a bad player just that he’s not going to score bucket loads in the company that we are trying to keep.
Comparing him to ESR and Nelson, at least Eddie got on the pitch and got the chance to show his limitations .
Much has been made of the great dressing room spirit , I wonder whether the loss of ESR ,Nelson , Nketiah and Ramsdale might have a detrimental effect.
Is Kev free for an airport drop off? 😜
I thought similar re those leaving could upset the spirit. Doesn’t send a good message to the other Arsenal boys coming through either…
rico on 3rd August 2024 at 6:27 pm
I thought similar re those leaving could upset the spirit. Doesn’t send a good message to the other Arsenal boys coming through either…
Rico it might be that seeing those leave might spur them on to fill their places. Take Nwaneri for example, ESR’s departure might be the opportunity for him to stake his place. So yes he might take it as bad message and he says that the same will happen to him or else he will see it as an opportunity and fill in the boots.
It is probable that during training Arteta saw that Nwaneri has more chance of making it through than ESR ever will. Maybe Nwaneri is more adaptable to Artataball than ESR is.
ESR leaving still leaves me gutted.
Perhaps Devil but when a talent like ESR gets sold, it must be a concern. I hope I’m wrong.
Fabio Vieira should’ve left before Emile Smith Rowe says Adrian Clarke .
I wonder if he will lose his job at the club.
Thanks for the memories, ESR
I think that Adrian Clarke is absolutely right, the only problem is, to sell a player, someone has to want to buy him and I can’t recall any rumours linking Vieira to any other club, ever, unfortunately…
We needed to sell and Emile was the most sought after we had available and that’s tough but that’s life. It happened to Paul Merson, it happened to David Rocastle and it happened to John Lukic all firm fans’ favourites.
Rico, anytime you need a cab to anywhere,
I am available,
just call me and –
I’ll give you a quote… 😆
Anyway, on the plus side it seems that Nketiah might be a Gunner for awhile longer as Marseilles are looking elsewhere. C’est la vie.
No interest yet in Ramsdale and no progress in any move for Nelson, so it’s back to normal on the outgoings – and it all started so well after moving on Biereth, Tavares and Lokonga…
What I’d like to know is what did the Arsenal stats analysists and Arsenal scouts see in Marquinhos?
Bobby Clark, ever heard of him?
Well he’s a 19 year old midfielder at Liverpool and a couple of European clubs are after him. Liverpool are thought to want £12m and will probably get a figure close to that.
Now how much would Arsenal get for Charlie Patino? Same age, position etc.
Hopefully this transfer season will show Arteta that the young players will not hang around when they see players like ESR and Nketiah leave due to lack of game time.
I’ll let Vieira know Kev. 😂
I wonder if we’d so forgiving of the ESR sale if Wenger or Emery was still the manager, or Gazidis and Sanllehí were doing the selling….
Anyway, it’s done now..
Morning all.
https://billycarpenter.substack.com/p/scouting-mikel-merino
Morning folks , I wonder if the powers at Arsenal have misread the room . Going back over my time there has always been popular players and those that attract criticism. As much as evidence has proved that Smith-Rowe was the only marketable asset that was going to get decent money , the ones that remain may well find themselves the target of the opprobrium .
It seems that we certainly have ideas of values for Nelson and Nketiah that are not matched by the prospective purchasers possibly because of a reputation for being roll overs and selling cheap and buying expensive, much of which is because of the high wages we pay to fringe players being met detracting from the price people are willing to pay for 5 year contracts .Nketiah £5 million plus a year and Nelson £ Million a year .
Then of course both of these players are young so perhaps we should be taking a low up front target , save the wages and get sell on clauses . If Marseille and West Ham are serious suitors we need to get money in rather than get loan fees until their contracts run out .
I’m of a similar opinion, it’s better to take what is a reasonable offer for our players than keep them on the books, pay them but not play them. As we know, Arsenal have been a soft touch for years and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon and whilst we’d all like the club to show more resilience when selling players, there’s little point in shooting ourselves in the foot, just to prove a point.
Good Morning Rico and I agree with your latest comment ,but I will stick to my guns re ESR that he gave Arteta no choice as he broke club rules several times.
Two weeks until the season starts and we have officially bought one player and the situation re Tierney and Partey and Ramsdale are unanswered .
Wenger always said it takes a player a season to adapt to the PL and to an extent he was right .IMO we still need a goal scoring forward,a proper back up for Saka which won’t be easy and another midfielder . Rotation is fine but not to the extent Arteta is thinking .
Going by some reports, Marseille have given up on Nketiah claiming Arsenal want to much.
Morning Kelsey, I guess we’ll never know for sure.
‘Rotation is fine but not to the extent Arteta is thinking’ – those who we think are leaving haven’t been playing so I’m not sure rotation is going to be an issue. Especially as at this time, we’ve only added one player to the squad.
Seems so Geoff but I think I read that Crystal Palace are interested in him too and the way Fulham are spending money, they might want him too. lol
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-transfer-artea-edu-nottinghamforest-33388821
I guess there’s really nothing that Arsenal can do about it if Edu wants to leave the little old Gunners for the giant that is Nottingham Forest, other than offer Edu a pay rise and a contract…
Maybe that’s what Edu is after and why the story is out there?
Arsenal U21s were again without Charlie Patino and Brooke Norton-Cuffy at Lincoln City yesterday.
Are they injured?
Are they busy negotiating transfers? Or are they working on another loan?
Nwaneri, L-Skelly, Heaven and Nichols were also absent from the U21’s and I can only assume that Arteta is keeping them on with the senior squad and that they might play a part vs Leverkusen and even Lyon?
Ha ha Kev, what a load of old tosh eh…
Nwaneri, L-Skelly, Heaven and Nichols in the first team squad I reckon.
I know Rico, when I first read it I laughed and forgot about it but it’s one of those dopey stories that’ll run and run I guess…
We’ve got such a difficult opening 5 Premier League games, I’d imagine that Arteta has done nothing else but plan for them because the danger of getting blown away before the middle of September is massive.
Chinese whispers I’m sure Kev. He’ll be leaving by tomorrow 😂
I’d be worrying about Fulham and West Ham too, they’re having a busy summer..
I imagine that the managers of those five teams will be just as apprehensive about facing Arsenal as you are Kev. We are no longer the easily bullied pushovers we used to be. Personally I can’t wait for the first match to kick off.
I’ve forgotten who we’re playing after Wolves. Lol
No Cicero, I’m not apprehensive I’m excited, but you know what our stupid fan base is like, if we don’t take 15 points from those 5 games there will be brain cells out there calling for the head of Arteta…
No, it’s as difficult a start to a season that I can ever remember and where there is actually an area of improvement for us, you know marginal improvements, is at the beginning of the season whilst City may just be a bit sluggish.
Anyway, we’ll soon find out.
Yeah Rico, you gotta watch those crafty Chinese
I like that we’re having a difficult start, it’ll focus the minds early..
I have been Kev, in the Olympics 😜
I prefer a hard start to the season and a easier finish, especialy if we stay in some of the other tournaments our players could be tired come the last few matches.
Julian Alvarez, £70m.
Is he worth £70m
Is he what we need?
I’m not sure, it’s a move that doesn’t excite me, but then neither did Kai Havertz…
And would City really sell him to Arsenal if he could make the difference?
Good morning Rico and all
Kev….are we really in need of a 5ft 7 inch forward which is Alvarez’ height. Gyokeres is 6ft 2 by comparison.
We play better with a big target man up front. We played so much better when Havertz was CF than when he wasnt. We already have Jesus and Nketiah who are slightly taller, JEsus 5ft9 and Nketiah 5ft 11.
I prefer a bigger target man up front. TH14 was over 6ft. But that is my philosophy with regards playing system. That is why I preferred Sesko or Gyokeres.
If Alvarez is worth 70 million then it would be better to spend them on Gyokeres
Morning Devil, Kev, guys.
If we signed Alvarez I’d be happy. 😂
New post up..