Emile Smith-Rowe is held highly at Arsenal football club, and may well find himself given some mighty shoes to fill.
Mesut Ozil has stuttered through his latter career, coincidentally since signing a monster contract extension with us in 2018, and he looks highly likely to run down that contract before leaving on a free transfer in just over a years time.
We have come to rely on the former German international much less in recent seasons, having endured a number of lackluster performances when we needed him most, and have a number of players currently vying for his starting spot.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Eddie Nketieh, Reiss Nelson, Gabriel Martinelli and Nicolas Pepe have all been played in place of Ozil this term, with the 31 year-old playing the full 90 minutes only seven times this season.
The club are now believed to be keen to find the right player to give the keys to Arsenal too, with Ozil no longer being who he once was, the assist king who could control the game with the ball at his feet.
Smith-Rowe is one at the club who is regarded highly, and is an outside shot at taking over the helm. The 19 year-old was sent out to Huddersfield on loan in January with a view to getting some key match minutes, and he has impressed in his short time there. The youngster is now looking forward to coming back from his loan to showcase his skills to the new manager here.
He said earlier this month: “I’ll go back to Arsenal in pre-season and show the manager that I’m capable of getting into the team.
“At the end of the day the dream is to play for Arsenal. That’s what I’ll be working towards.
“Am I ready for the Premier League? I hope I am. After this loan hopefully I will be much more confident going back to Arsenal.
“I’d like to say I can go back and prove to everyone what I can do.”
To take over from Ozil however he would need to make some giant strides between now and next season, with new signings likely to come in and stake a claim for the spot.
Could Emile break into the first-team next season? Could Arteta get Ozil into form with a full pre-season?
Patrick