Arsenal’s Emile Smith Rowe is reportedly nearing a move to Fulham after being left out of our friendly against Bournemouth last night in Los Angeles. Reports were saying that the Cottagers are close to securing the 23-year-old midfielder for £35 million.
The Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta earlier confirmed that Smith Rowe’s omission was due to ongoing transfer discussions, when he said: “There are things happening in the background at the moment and we decided the best thing to do was keep him away from the game today.”
But now that has been (practically) confirmed by the respected Arsenal guru David Ornstein, who tweeted….
🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Fulham close to reaching agreement with Arsenal to sign Emile Smith Rowe. Talks over move worth up to £35m; would be record recruit for #FFC + match biggest #AFC sale. If deal struck 23yo expected to do medical & finalise terms @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/NGElac5XXD
— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) July 24, 2024
Smith Rowe, who has faced injury challenges and limited playtime, has made just three Premier League starts since August 2022. Despite his early promise, including 12 goals in 53 league appearances during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, injuries have hindered his progress. Last season, he played only 346 minutes in the Premier League, with a knee injury sidelining him for six weeks in October.
Fulham, having had a £30 million bid rejected, returned with a £35 million offer including add-ons, aiming to surpass their previous record transfer of £27 million for Jean Michaël Seri in 2018. If finalized, the deal would be a significant profit for Arsenal, as Smith Rowe is an academy product, and would match their record sale of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Smith Rowe has won three senior England caps and was part of the squad that won the UEFA European Under-21 Championship last summer. His potential move marks a pivotal moment for both clubs and a new chapter in his career. Arsenal fans will find it a bittersweet moment, seeing a homegrown talent depart and a lifelong Gooner having to moce away.
Hopefully we will add a buyback clause if possible….
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Good news. Arsenal needs to start selling and quickly as the clock is ticking in the summer window. Let’s hope it all goes through smoothly and, assuming it does, wish ESR well at Fulham.
Palace may have been able to do a swap deal, but Palace were to heavy in their players prices and too frugal in their estimation of ESR.
You snooze you loose Palace.
Fulham may also be looking at another Arsenal player to buy, I know who it is, but I bet you don’t, any guesses?
LoL.
Reiss Nelson
I’d be surprised if this deal materialise. Like Nelson and Nketiah i expect him to stay, he can be very useful to our team.
I think it’s happening this time around.
Hate to see such a young talent moved on, but if he doesn’t fit into the managers plans, then so be it.
I know he will receive a great reception when he returns as an opponent and I wish him every success in the future.
He’s Arsenal through and through!!
OT, I don’t like this “loan with obligation to buy” bla bla I’m reading about Reiss Nelson and Leicester City. I’d prefer a straight purchase deal. What if Leicester fail to survive the PL and get relegated?
And such a prospect is not far=fetched by any stretch of imagination
If that happens they would still have to purchase him at the agreed price as it would be an obligation to buy.
Out top scorer 2 seasons ago in a poorer team then even after his injury does not get a look in ,strange one but I suppose Arteta needs to raise funds because of his spending over the last 5 years .
I cannot see any of our other players up for sale getting anywhere near what we have got for ESR ,on form he’s a 60-70 million player ,if he stays fit Fulham have bagged a bargain .
“IF”… he stays fit ‘ .
That’s sadly the issue with ESR..otherwise I seriously doubt Artera would sell …I don’t see Merino as that much better than ESR.
Nelson -£20mn
Nketiah -£ 30mn + ( he has had more game time than ESR and so should expect similar monies)
That’s approx £85mn+ which is good monies for 3 squad players.
Will have to see how Edu replaces these ‘home grown’ players within the squad as per rules…maybe thats why the 2 cheap goalies ?
Apparently he’s been fit and ready for 6 months so how he hardly got any minutes last season is a strange one unless it was to make sure he did t get injured for the sale value ,but like I said 35 million is a snip when you see the value of players these days and homegrown .
I look forward to seeing him actually playing regularly (hopefully) if this deal goes through then, instead of needlessly wasting away on the Arsenal bench.
It’s getting hard nosed time with sales.
There can’t be a supporter of Arsenal that can be happy that ESR has failed to break through due to a catalogue of injuries. I don’t think it’s possible to be anything other than sympathetic but Arteta has moved on and Smith Rowe has been left behind.
I hope there are no snags that crop up for both parties and that Arsenal and he can move forward