Arsenal: How much do you trust Emile Smith Rowe and Joe Willock?

Arsenal have a big, gaping void in the creative midfield, so now the question we have to ask ourselves is how much we trust Emile Smith Rowe and Joe Willock.

Arsenal‘s summer business is going to be a thrill to watch, especially seeing as how they’re going into this transfer window guns blazing, throwing bids all over the place like Oprah. It’s a wonderful sight to see.

But part of the challenge of this transfer window is leaving enough space for the youngsters to get their opportunities. Rob Holding, Calum Chambers, Reiss Nelson, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Joe Willock, Xavier Amaechi, Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah and Emile Smith Rowe are all guys that want to be in that first team picture. And those are just the names off the top of my head.

The problem, is, it’s hard to judge who is ready and who isn’t. On the wings, it’s easy enough, because we have no one there, so give Nelson a shot and rally behind him.

But the philosophy also applies to the creative midfield, where the Gunners will ideally be cleaning out some serious baggage – Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, maybe even Alex Iwobi.

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And with Aaron Ramsey already having departed the club, that No. 10 spot is there for the taking, and it won’t be an easy spot to fill. Not just that, but it probably won’t be a spot that is filled by just one guy. It’ll be a team effort.

So the question is how much do we trust Emile Smith Rowe and, by extension, Joe Willock, both of whom have the capability to play that central attacking role?

Smith Rowe served a short, fairly pointless loan at RB Leipzig, but the fact that they wanted him back for more is a testament to the quality of the young Englishman. Willock hasn’t had a loan yet, but has instead been fast-tracked into the first team, scoring a couple goals this year and proving to be the kind of player that Unai Emery can really get behind.

I have explored the possibility of the Gunners spending all their money on the defense and letting the kids fill in the attack, and I still like that idea. You don’t even have to fully trust Willock and Smith Rowe to believe in their ability and that is what I’m suggesting we do.

Set these two up as the new Ozil and Mkhitaryan. Let them run the show. What’s the worst that can happen?