Arsenal: Emile Smith Rowe contract the statement we needed

Arsenal are always going to give youth a change, but their quick draw to lock down Emile Smith Rowe is more than just a chance.

A recent statistic showed that Arsenal were indeed the Premier League team that gave the most opportunities to academy products. Sometimes fans don’t like that (Alex Iwobi) but sometimes they do (Hector Bellerin).

Emile Smith Rowe looks to be the next player that is going to add to that academy minute tally, because the Gunners have locked him into a long-term deal before the preseason could even run its full course.

Smith Rowe has been on a tear this preseason, contributing to goals like it’s an easy thing to do, and just a couple days past his all-important 18th birthday, Smith Rowe looks set to be at the club for the long haul.

This isn’t the first time the Gunners have gone all in on a young player, with a contract just past their 18th birthday, and it won’t be the last. But still, given the speed and conclusivity in which the contract was done, we have no choice but to see it as a statement by the club, a statement akin to a sort of promise of opportunity for the young man.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

Because you have to assume that he would not have accepted the contract if there wasn’t some talk of when he might expect to be in the big time.

By comparison, Reiss Nelson received his first contract not long after turning 18 also. But his was over four months. For Smith Rowe, it was a couple days. They were essentially sitting on his doorstep with a piece contract ready to sign and he had no choice but to sign when he tripped on them on the way out of the door.

Nelson didn’t get his big opportunity in the year he signed his deal, but he only signed it with a month left into the season. Smith Rowe has an entire season to work with here, an entire season with a new manager that surely means moving pieces and a lot of opportunity to solidify himself as not just a product of the future, but a young phenom.

There have been a lot of reasons to be excited this summer. This is just another one. Smith Rowe is going to get his shot at the big time with Arsenal, they have guaranteed that much.