Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta once reacted with joy to the promise of Emile Smith Rowe – but he sold the midfielder in this summer’s transfer window.
Touted as the man who would eventually fill the boots of Mesut Ozil at the Emirates, Smith Rowe has left his boyhood club to become Fulham’s £27million club-record signing.
The idea of Arsenal’s dynamic Englishman leaving the club would have been unbelievable four years ago, as he and fellow academy graduate Bukayo Saka looked sure to form a formidable forward duo.
However, the player whose promise once coaxed Arteta into a smile has been plagued by injury and poor form and he is now looking to pave a new path for himself in west London.
