Wayne Rooney is a fan of Emile Smith Rowe, and the Derby County manager heaped praise on the Arsenal man last night.
Smith Rowe is one of the key players at the Emirates who are driving the club towards a return to the top four.
He has been on a rapid rise since he got his chance to impress under Mikel Arteta and has even been earning call ups to the England national team.
While on punditry duty during Arsenal’s 3-0 defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace, Rooney revealed he is a fan of the midfielder, and he even attempted to sign him on loan when he first became Derby’s manager.
He said via The Daily Mail: Yeah, I am [a fan], I think he’s a fantastic young player.
‘When I first went in as manager of Derby, he’s actually a player who I enquired about to try and bring in on loan.’
Just Arsenal Opinion
Smith Rowe has been one of our finest players in the last two campaigns, and he is guaranteed to spend the next few seasons still as an important member of our first team.
Clubs will be interested in him as he gets better, but Arsenal needs to prove they are serious by keeping him away from the clutches of these Premier League sides.
I love Smith Rowe, the gaffer needs to get him involved just a little bit more.
This academy graduate seems to be as loyal as they get, but I like his whole deportment and attitude.
You can tell he has very supportive and focus people behind him
ESR is definitely an important cog in any Arsenal rebirth, but he can’t be shoehorned out wide simply to accommodate Arteta’s nonsensical need to have Xhaka and Ode on the pitch even when it doesn’t make tactical sense…he needs to occupy more central positions so that he can bring some much-needed directness to our one-trick pony attack…until MA shows some tactical nous any opposing manager with half a brain will use the Vieira blueprint to expose our weak-ass 4-3-3 with Xhaka and Ode in more advanced positions
True @TRVL, Odegaard and Xhaka make our midfield vulnerable leaving Partey as the only shield 🛡 on our defense, a big reason Lacazette tracks deep,
I really hope Arteta can get strong, fast and skillful CMs, so Smith-Rowe can be integrated into the midfield and Odegaard can be our super sub.
Cheers Longbenark….not to mention it exposes Partey, as he’s got relatively few options when it comes to passing in a more direct fashion, which usually leads to a bevy of sideways and backwards passes that have a tendency to invite unnecessary pressure and can lead to conceding possession in our defensive zone
The more I watch Arsenal of late, the less I feel ESR fits
Arteta’s current style.
ESR’s play would fit better into the early Wenger teams. He plays short crisp passes especially around the box like a young Wilshire.
Arteta loves Odegaard, and he seems to want pace on the wings, so prefers Nellie and Saka. So ESR spends a lot of time on the bench
I have said this before. I truly believe that ESR would suit Man City, more so than Grealish currently does!!!
At $30m I think ESR would be a steal for many of the top EPL teams!!