Why Arsenal Must SELL Smith Rowe

With all the talk around Arsenal right now about which players should we get, which holes should we fix in the squad, how much should we pay for the players we are being linked with, I thought maybe to take a look at a player that, well, his Arsenal future is questionable to say the least. And that player is a fan favourite and by far one of if not my favourite Arsenal player in Emil Smith Rowe. Smith Rowe once seemed to be the guaranteed starter for us for the next five years alongside Bukayo Saka, but now he barely ever gets game time for Arsenal. So with Emil Smith Rowe being just 23, almost 24 years old, what should Arsenal do with the hell in graduates? Should Arsenal still convince Emil Smith Rowe to stay and keep him, hoping that we could afford him more game time and he adds depth to the team? Or should we just bite the bullets, do the sad thing in looking to cash out for him this summer? Well, that's what we'll be talking about today. So what's going on everyone, you are listening to Gunner Central here, I hope you're all doing well. Please be sure to like the video, subscribe if you haven't already and let's get into it. Now it's no secret that Arsenal wants to sign probably at least two to three players this summer, with at least one of those players being world-class or at the bare minimum being borderline world-class. And with the new strict FFP rules that isn't going to allow teams to just spend as much as their heart desires like it once did and with us having spent so much money over the past couple of years in the transfer window, we are without a doubt going to have to sell some players in order to finance any big moves that Arsenal wants to pull off. So that's why it's widely reported that fringe players like Aaron Ramsdale, Rhys Nelson, Eddie Nketiah, they are all on the chopping block and Arsenal are more than willing to sell. But one player that some reports seem to be certain is on the chopping block, while other reports seem to be certain is not on the chopping block is Emile Smith-Rowe. The 23 almost 24 year old has barely had any game time over the past two seasons, with the season before last him being struck with injury upon injury so it made sense. But this season, or I guess you could say last season, Emile Smith-Rowe being mostly fit still got barely any game time at Arsenal. Despite being fit for the majority of this season, Smith-Rowe played just 489 minutes and got two assists and the season before that he played 255 minutes, meaning that in the past two seasons for Arsenal, Emile Smith-Rowe has played just 744 minutes of football for Arsenal. For reference, in the 21-22 season, he played 2,189 minutes, scoring 11 goals and getting two assists. So with him barely getting any game time over the past two years, and when he does play, he does look pretty good in my opinion, a lot of English clubs like Aston Villa seem to be interested in getting Emile Smith-Rowe. So should Arsenal sell him? Well, like I said in the intro, Smith-Rowe is arguably one of my favourite players in the squad and I really have a big soft spot for him so this is a difficult question to answer. Look, if we were to sell him, I would completely understand. He's barely played at Arsenal over the past two seasons, Arteta clearly doesn't think he's all that high level of a player, clubs like Aston Villa are willing to pay 30 million pounds for him, I can see why Arteta and Arsenal would prefer to sell Smith-Rowe. And if we don't sell him and he stays, he probably still won't get much game time this season, he'll be one year older next season and at the end of next season, he'll have just one year left on his contract. And with him probably not getting much game time if he does stay, his value will tank significantly more than it has already. I mean, this time two years ago, according to TransferMarkt, Smith-Rowe was valued at 40 million euros and right now he is valued at just 22 million euros. So on paper, it makes complete sense to sell him this summer and there is little to no reason to keep him. But with him being my favourite player, there is something that I think we should also maybe think about. Despite what Arteta has tried to do, Smith-Rowe in my opinion is not a box to box player, he just isn't. The two positions and roles which best suit him in my opinion is either when he plays the 10, which is like the attacking midfielder, which allows him to arrive late into the box and score goals, which he does really well, he's a high level midfielder and goal scorer. Or in my opinion, arguably one of his better positions is at left wing. He clearly will never be the first choice at the 10 position over Odegaard, but why Smith-Rowe isn't used as a left wing more often just kind of makes me a little bit confused. Defensively, Smith-Rowe has a high enough work rate to play a left wing, but on the ball, I don't know why he isn't played at left wing. He is elite at running at defenders, he's a good goal scorer and he's a decent enough playmaker to play at left wing. He's also 6 foot, making him a reasonably tall winger and he has a decent burst of pace. Smith-Rowe can easily be a starting level winger if simply given enough minutes. And with Martin early struggling throughout last season, as needed a quality backup for Saka, why Smith-Rowe was not used in the wider areas more often, I have no idea. For instance, he could easily play at left wing and act as competition and cover for Martinelli and push Trossard to play at right wing to allow Saka some rest and add more depth to our wider areas. Again, Smith-Rowe has proven that he is not a box-to-box player and should be used either as a 10 or as a winger. Why this wasn't done more last season, I have no idea. Keeping Smith-Rowe and saying, okay Smith-Rowe, you're going to be playing out wide this season, well that will allow us to not have to go into the market and go spend money on a backup for Saka. Again, we would have a lot more space out wide because we would have Martinelli, Trossard and Smith-Rowe all able to play left wing and that would allow Trossard to be able to play on the right wing if Smith-Rowe is playing more as a left winger. But if Arsenal were to keep Smith-Rowe this summer, then he simply has to play and has to get more game time this upcoming season. But like I said, if we do keep him, we cannot doom Smith-Rowe to another season as a bench warmer. That won't benefit Smith-Rowe and that certainly won't benefit Arsenal. We would be losing yet more value on him and he would not be playing football. Again, making us lose value on him. So listen, if we're being honest, the obvious thing, the thing that Arsenal should frankly do is sell Emil Smith-Rowe. It hurts to say, it hurts to admit, but I don't see Arteta ever using Smith-Rowe on a game-to-game basis again. Not when he's behind not when he's not a box-to-box midfielder and clearly not when Arteta doesn't see him as a winger. And again, if we were to keep him, we would lose so much leverage next summer if we wanted to sell him. Being that he would have a tank in value, he would have just one year left on his contract and he would be a year older than he is now. If we want to sell Smith-Rowe, if we don't see him in our long-term project, we have to sell him this summer. There's no ifs, ands or buts about it. It has to be this summer. And again, if we don't sell him this summer, he has to play on a regular basis for Arsenal. Simple as that.