2023 has not been easy for Emile Smith Rowe. The 22-year-old was second only to Bukayo Saka in Arsenal's scoring charts in the 2021/22 season but followed that up with a campaign in which he did not start a single match in any competition.
There are plenty of mitigating factors for this. First among these is of course injuries. Smith Rowe had been struggling with pain from a groin injury since his teen years and finally took the decision to get it sorted once and for all with surgery at the start of this season. That would ultimately rule him out for five months, before a series of false starts around the new year stunted his comeback.
For the last few months of the season though, the Hale Ender was back fully fit and pain free. He lost weight, was impressing in training and set personal bests for his physicality. Still though his wait for a route back in to the Arsenal first team would continue.
Despite the Gunners' struggles in games against West Ham, Southampton and Nottingham Forest, Mikel Arteta continued to overlook one of his most threatening attacking options. Even in games where Arsenal were comfortable he was ignored. As Arsenal took a three-goal lead at home to Leeds, Arteta opted to go bring on Saka - who had been struggling with illness and not trained the day prior - instead of Smith Rowe. Unsurprisingly rumours of a potential exit began to circulate not long after, but Arteta is adamant that he wants the man who arguably kicked his project at Arsenal into life to stay.
"He knows how much we love him and he knows how much we missed him and how much we need his qualities,” the Spaniard told football.london in March . It's understood that a conversation was had at the end of this season to remind Smith Rowe of his importance and reaffirm that he would not be going anywhere this summer.
Still though, his wait for an opportunity continues. With Arsenal having brought in Kai Havertz there is a concern that Smith Rowe could have to wait even longer. Now though, the 22-year-old has had the chance to remind everyone just how good a player he really is.
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Smith Rowe was called up to Lee Carsley's England under-21s squad for the Euros this month. Across the tournament so far he has two goals and an assist in just five appearances en route to the final.
Arteta has been training Smith Rowe in the central midfield positions - where he has implied he will one day end up - and it has been interesting to watch the positions that the 22-year-old has picked up across the tournament so far. Despite initially having a wide starting position, Smith Rowe has come infield on occasion to fill in the kind of areas on the pitch where Martin Odegaard and Granit Xhaka thrived last season. These will surely have been watched by Arteta as he prepares to close the gap to Manchester City next season.
Throughout the difficult period towards the end of this season, one of the factors that has motivated Smith Rowe to produce consistently excellent performances in training was the under-21 Euros. Having shown the world what he can do once again in the tournament he'll now be looking to finish the job in Saturday's final against Spain.
