Arsenal: Emile Smith Rowe needs a different kind of patience

Arsenal have a talented young man in Emile Smith Rowe, but at 17-years-old, we do indeed have to be patient, just in a different way.

Arsenal’s 5-1 thwomping of PSG brought the best out of youngster Emile Smith Rowe yet again. After scoring the club’s only goal in the penalty kick loss to Atletico Madrid, Smith Rowe was prominent yet again against PSG, providing an assist and causing the French giants a great deal of problems.

But remember, he is only 17, and that begs for patience, as many (including here at Pain in the Arsenal) are pointing out. You can’t expect him to run rampant on the Premier League and be the next Aaron Ramsey this coming season.

Patience is a tricky tactic, however.

Because while patience can and should be practiced in abundance with him, it isn’t just patience for patience sake. It needs to be a kind of pushy patience, always willing to give him leeway because he is young, but always willing to push him onto that next challenge too.

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I want to draw this distinction because I think we’ve seen a lot of young players get lost in the mix because we were too patient. I can’t help but remember Daniel Crowley, who we were incredibly patient with, but who never really progressed.

Jeff Reine-Adelaide is another. A recent sale, many would have bet on “The Jeff” to be a sure-fire first team contender within five years of being signed at 17.

I don’t think many would have expected him to be sold by the time he was 20.

He never progressed like he needed to. He never pressed on to that senior level. But we were certainly patient with him. No one would say we weren’t.

I’m not going to sit here and pretend like I know everything that goes on at the youth level to help a player get ready for the big time. But I will sit here and tell you that patience in and of itself is not the answer.

I’m sure we all knew that though.

Smith Rowe is an immensely talented young player who is showcasing a ton of talent in the preseason – his first possible opportunity. But Chuba Akpom has been there, done that too.

Patience with pushiness. Somewhere in there is the perfect blend to ideally make this player everything that he can be. Because it’s about time we raised a superstar.