“I am excited to work with him,” Arteta told Sky Sports in 2020 while cracking a smile over the 19-year-old Smith Rowe. “He’s a player with very specific qualities to play in those pockets in that position as an attacking midfielder.
“I have been talking with him, and I have followed him during his spell on loan [at Huddersfield]. I think he’s someone who can be pretty impressive.
“I’m pleased by what I’ve seen from him. He needed that exposure, and he looks more mature now. I think he will be in a much better place when he comes back in pre-season.
“The young players want to be important, they want to take the important numbers, and I like that. It’s a good step. and they can be important in the future.”
Injuries scuppered the midfielder’s first season back under Arteta, but the 2021/22 campaign was where he shone. The Englishman notched 10 league goals, starring in most of the Gunners’ games.
However, surgery disrupted his following year, and Smith Rowe never managed to build up a head of steam under the Spaniard again. From 2020, the attacker’s growth was stunted as he missed 61 games and started very few.
Arteta’s side, unlike Smith Rowe, has developed. The Spanish boss has taken the club from the Europa League to back-to-back second-place finishes while being bested only by Pep Guardiola’s unflappable Manchester City.
“It is always going to be challenging,” Smith Rowe stated last September after making his first club start in nearly 500 days. “It is always going to be difficult to cement your place in this team.”
Arteta’s title-challenging football progressed past Smith Rowe, and Martin Odegaard has firmly taken the reigns left by Ozil. The fact that the Spaniard has now sold Smith Rowe four years later speaks volumes about how far his stock fell in north London.
There is still hope that a successful Premier League career will develop for Smith Rowe, however, as he has impressed so far at his new club in pre-season.
The new shirt has returned the Gunners to their roots placing a stripped-down, elegant-looking canon right over the heart of the new shirt. Shirt manufacturers Adidas have produced a “clean and minimal” and the design “embraces modernity, while honouring Arsenal’s rich heritage.
