Emile Smith-Rowe Scout Report At Arsenal 2020/2021 – Why Mikel Arteta Must Now Trust Smith Rowe To Be Arsenal’s Creator

We have finally seen the Mesut Özil saga draw to a close at Arsenal, with the German playmaker making his way to Turkey and Fenerbahce this week in a low-key exit that nobody could have foreseen when he arrived with much fanfare at the Emirates from Real Madrid back in 2013.

Whatever may have been the reasons for his ostracisation and exit under Mikel Arteta, it cannot be denied that Arsenal suffered greatly from a lack of creativity for large parts this season, during a time when their best playmaker was sitting at home twiddling his thumbs on Twitter.

However, it is now time for all parties to move on, and the Gunners may already have found their next great hope in this regard, with youngster Emile Smith Rowe being given a central role in the team over the last few matches.

It is no coincidence that Arsenal have looked much better during this time, and the 20-year-old has quickly established himself as a crucial part of this renaissance.

In this Emile Smith Rowe scout report, we will run the rule over Smith Rowe, and what makes him such a good fit for the current Arsenal setup, as well as how he has helped the Gunners rediscover, to a certain extent, their penchant for creative, fast and attacking football.

Emile Smith-Rowe Style Of play

Emile Smith Rowe is a 20-year-old English attacking midfielder, born in Croydon, London, and having come through Arsenals Hale End academy.

He made his first-team debut for the Gunners in September 2018, against Vorskla Poltava in the UEFA Europa League, and also became the first player born in or after the year 2000 to score for the club, netting on his full debut against Qarabag in the same competition.

He has had loan spells at RB Leipzig and Huddersfield Town, but was brought into the first-team setup by Arteta ahead of this season, where he largely featured in the Europa League, before making his mark in the Premier League as well.

As stated earlier, Smith Rowe is an attacking midfielder, most comfortable with playing as a classic number 10, much like Özil, although he has been used in roles off the flanks as well.

His heatmap for this season will show this:

As we can see, Smith Rowes best work has come in the sort of areas one would expect from a number 10, even though he has had license to drift wide as well, especially to the left.

Smith Rowe is extremely proficient at moving between the lines to find space, before turning and driving at defences.

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