Arsenal: Emile Smith Rowe loan doubles up on proven strategy

Arsenal are locking up a loan move for Emile Smith Rowe to go to RB Leipzig, and call this another brilliant compilation on a proven strategy.

Not all good business in the transfer window has to involve a player coming into the club. For the sake of the long-term, sometimes it’s better to see a player’s future hashed out more clearly, and that is exactly what Arsenal have managed to secure by loaning Emile Smith Rowe to RB Leipzig for the rest of the year.

SkySports broke the news that he was flying in for a medical, and the young Englishman looks set to follow in the path of many before him. It’s the new “thing,” this sending teenage Premier League players to the Bundesliga for some real growth.

It started with Jadon Sancho, though he stayed in Germany, but now Arsenal are compiling on this proven method after already using it themselves. Reiss Nelson has spent all year at Hoffenheim, and while he has since cooled down since his fiery start, he is still in an exciting place, even more exciting than he was last summer, and it’s thanks to an astute loan move.

Smith Rowe is joining an RB Leipzig team that is fighting for Champions League qualification. They currently sit fourth in the league, and they’ve had to get a bit creative with their creativity.

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

Long-time Gunner target Emil Forsberg has missed 17 matches and counting thus far into the year, playing just 500 minutes, and behind him, the club doesn’t have a lot of reliable creative talents in the midfield.

In steps Smith Rowe, the hungry young creator that he is, and we have ourselves another loan that isn’t a loan just for the sake of sending the player somewhere (like Serge Gnabry to West Brom), but a calculated loan to a team where he actually has a fighting shot of making an impact on a club in a race for an important spot – a spot that his parent club will also be making a run for in their own respective league.

As with Nelson, it’s important as always to take a chill pill on expectations, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get excited. He is a massively talented lad in a league that values young, talented players, and he will get his chances.

Now if we can recoup him and Nelson in the summer as Premier League-ready players, everything will be alright with the world.