Where it went wrong for Emile Smith Rowe at Arsenal

Emile Smith Rowe has completed his £34m move to Fulham, bringing an end to his 14-year spell with Arsenal.

The midfielder was a key part of the side just two years ago after enjoying brilliant runs of form and was even bestowed with the iconic number 10 shirt when he was still only 20 years old.

However, in the two years since, it has all gone wrong for Smith Rowe at Arsenal as he has seen his opportunities grow more and more limited. With the 'Croydon de Bruyne' set to move on from his boyhood club, it is time to look at where exactly it went wrong for him at Arsenal.

Where it went wrong for Emile Smith Rowe at Arsenal

Smith Rowe performed brilliantly in the 2021/22 season, scoring 11 goals in 37 appearances in all competitions. He played the majority of that campaign on the left wing so many felt he would continue playing this role in the 2023/24 season.

Injuries prevented Smith Rowe from doing so and Gabriel Martinelli stepped up to the role. Martinelli made that position his own after enjoying a great run of form in the first half of the 2023/24 campaign. Smith Rowe was never going to displace Martinelli and his left-wing chances were decreased even further with the introduction of Leandro Trossard in the 2023 winter transfer window.

Both Martinelli and Trossard's excellent performances meant Smith Rowe did not start a single game throughout the 2022/23 season, making just 14 appearances from the bench. This lack of opportunities continued into the next campaign, in which Smith Rowe moved to a number eight role.

He performed well in his new role but was still limited to just three Premier League starts, all against weaker opposition, and 13 league appearances in total. Mikel Arteta decided against bringing Smith Rowe off the bench at times when he could have helped the team, signalling he had lost faith in the academy graduate.

It is possible Arteta no longer trusted Smith Rowe due to his inability to stay fit on a consistent basis so may have felt he was too unreliable to be played. Considering that the midfielder missed 31 matches and 166 days of action between September 2022 and February 2024, this is an understandable view.

Smith Rowe may have also been struggling with some sort of a mental block as he failed to score since a 4-2 victory away to Chelsea in April 2022. He went close on many occasions but just seemed to lack that clinical finishing edge he so often displayed throughout the 2021/22 season.

It seems that it was a combination of factors that made it go wrong for Emile Smith Rowe at Arsenal. The emergence and performances of other talents such as Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard meant he lost his place in the starting XI. His poor injury record also made him an unreliable source for consistency, naturally decreasing his chances even further.

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