Arsenal: The door is a ajar for Emile Smith Rowe

After a slew of summer departures, as Emile Smith Rowe returns to fitness having already been promoted to the Arsenal first-team squad, the door is ajar for him to break into Unai Emery’s starting XI.

The summer transfer window is now well and truly finished. While the Premier League window show almost four weeks ago, the European and lower league one only closed on Monday this week. And Arsenal made the most of that extra time.

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Perhaps the most significant departure of the past week was Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s year-long loan move to AS Roma. The fact that it was a loan is significant. There was obviously a partial financial motivation to offloading the Armenian, his £180,000-a-week wages blowing a significant hole in the budget, but Unai Emery’s primary concern was creating space in the squad. Mkhitaryan was no longer needed.

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The reason for this is Emery’s eagerness to turn a vast array of extremely talented young players, some of which he believes are ready to play — and play regularly — in the here and now. And one of those players is just returning from injury at precisely the right time.

Emile Smith Rowe ended last season in Leipzig. He was injured for the majority of his six months in Germany and missed all of the preseason. For that reason, he has largely flown under the radar, especially in comparison to Reiss Nelson, Joe Willock and even Eddie Nketiah, who is no longer at the club.

But of all the young talent that is breaking out of the Hale End Academy at present, Smith Rowe might just be the best of the lot. Certainly, if his performances in the group stages of the Europa League are anything to go by, and the way in which Emery accelerated him into the senior picture, including already naming him in the first-team squad, there is great promise surrounding the recently turned 19-year-old.

The problem for Smith Rowe and his development last season was the presence of players like Alex Iwobi and Mkhitaryan, both of which play similar positions to Smith Rowe, a versatile attacking midfielder with the ability to play centrally or out wide — given his skill set and lack of elite speed, it is believed a central role might be better suited.

But this year, such progress stoppers are no longer present. Yes, Dani Ceballos has now arrived, and yes, Nelson is back from his year-long loan and Mesut Ozil is vaguely in the thinking somewhere or other, but there will be opportunities for Smith Rowe to play this season. And not just in the Europa League.

The Mkhitaryan loan — and plenty other transfers this summer — not only opens up opportunity; it illustrates the willingness of Emery and the club to lean on the young players like Smith Rowe. Willock has already started three games this season, including a trip to Anfield, while Nelson has started two and seem in line for decent usage too.

For Smith Rowe, then, the door is ajar. Now, he just needs to stay fit, let his talent do the talking, and saunter into the living room of first-team football.