Mikel Arteta hints Arsenal player is set to leave club

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has hinted that Emile Smith Rowe could soon leave the club amid recent transfer links with fellow Premier League side Fulham.

The Cottagers have been reported to be close to a £35m agreement for Smith Rowe, who didn't feature as Arsenal faced Bournemouth in a pre-season friendly in Los Angeles overnight.

Speaking afterwards, Arteta all but confirmed the reason for that omission was a likely exit.

"There are things happening in the background at the moment. We decided the best thing to do was to keep him away from the game today," the boss said of Smith Rowe.

The home-grown attacking midfielder was the subject of multiple bids from Aston Villa in the summer of 2021, which Arsenal rejected. Smith Rowe then signed a new contract at the Emirates Stadium and proceeded to score ten Premier League goals during that season.

But just as it looked as though Smith Rowe would kick on and become a key first-team player for the Gunners, his 2022/23 campaign was derailed by a groin injury that required surgery. By the time he returned to fitness, the No.10 was limited to a fringe role.

Smith Rowe subsequently began 2023/24 on the bench, followed by a knee injury in November and December, and only got 117 minutes of Premier League action in Arsenal's final 12 games of the season during the crunch title run-in.

With a contract until 2026 and no clear route back towards a regular role with Arsenal, a fresh start elsewhere looks increasingly the best way for Smith Rowe to kickstart his career.

The Gunners have done relatively little transfer business so far this summer, triggering the permanent transfer clause in David Raya's loan deal and closing in on the signing of Bologna centre-back Riccardo Calafiori. Nuno Tavares and Albert Sambi Lokonga have left on loan, while Mohamed Elneny and Cedric Soares were released when their contracts expired in June.

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