Highlights
- Arsenal has spent £208m on new transfers this summer, including Declan Rice, Kai Havertz, and Jurrien Timber.
- The club has struggled to recoup significant funds through player sales, with only loan deals and minimal windfalls.
- There are rumours that Arsenal is willing to sell Emile Smith Rowe, who is frustrated by his lack of playing time.
Journalist Charles Watts has reacted strongly after hearing the news that Emile Smith Rowe could be sold to one of Arsenal’s biggest rivals before the summer transfer window shuts.
How much have Arsenal spent?
The Gunners have spent big this summer to bring in some exciting new players. Most notably, Declan Rice, Kai Havertz, Jurrien Timber for a total of £208m. While David Raya has arrived for a loan fee of £3m.
However, they haven’t quite been able to recoup perhaps quite as much money as they would have been hoping to do in exits. Up to this point, the sales of Granit Xhaka, Matt Turner, Austin Trusty and Pablo Mari have hardly seen the Gunners net a major windfall.
They may have been hoping to pick up a big fee for Kieran Tierney but only managed to loan him to Real Sociedad for the season. With that being the case, the Premier League side might have to raise funds in another way.
This is where rivals Chelsea could come in. Indeed, as per a recent report in The Times, Arsenal are willing to sell midfielder Smith Rowe after a recent approach from the Blues.
The report adds that the Englishman has also been offered to other unnamed Premier League clubs and that he is open to a move having become frustrated by his lack of playing time – he is yet to play even once in the league so far this season.
However, it doesn’t appear as though everyone is particularly keen on the move. For instance, journalist Charles Watts expressed his feelings about the rumours on Twitter, making his stance very clear.
The football writer wrote: “If Chelsea really are interested in Smith Rowe, then it should be the shortest conversation in history should they actually pick the phone up and try to discuss it with Arsenal.
“No, no and no.”
Football.London writer Tom Canton echoed the sentiments, writing on social media: “The Emile Smith Rowe transfer conundrum has left me feeling like a hypocrite.
“He doesn’t play. But he cannot be sold. Yet other players who don’t play I see the reasons why they can go.”
While popular blogger Andrew Mangan wrote on Arseblog: “From a fixture in the first team he’s become something of an after-thought, which is a real shame, because he’s a player I love watching. And if there is any substance to this Chelsea stuff, I will be furious…”
How old is Smith Rowe?
The English midfielder is still only 23 years of age but has seen his development hindered significantly in recent times, due to a lack of regular game time.
As alluded to before, his only action this term has been three minutes in the Community Shield off the bench. While last term, he failed to start a single Premier League game – albeit with injury issues impacting the first half of his campaign.
Clearly managed Mikel Arteta hasn’t trusted him a great deal of late but this is quite perplexing when Smith Rowe scored 11 goals in 37 games under the Spaniard in the 2021/22 season.
The brilliant spell of form is no doubt why many at Arsenal are desperate to see the midfielder stick around and it certainly would be a bitter pill to swallow if he joined Chelsea and rediscovered his confidence.
