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James GoldmanPublished Jan 20, 2024, 10:56am|Updated Jan 20, 2024, 10:57am
Arsenal have issued an emphatic response to West Ham’s opening offer for Emile Smith Rowe.
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The England international’s career has stalled badly over the course of the last 18 months with two major injuries stunting his progress.
Despite having returned to full fitness following surgery earlier this season, Smith Rowe has continued to find regular first team football hard to come by under Mikel Arteta.
Indeed, the 23-year-old’s only Premier League start this season came against Sheffield United back in October.
Arteta promised Smith Rowe chances would come his way earlier this month, but the gifted attacker was given only two minutes to impress in the FA Cup third round defeat against Liverpool a fortnight ago.
Smith Rowe’s inactivity has prompted several Premier League clubs to register an interest, with the Hammers at the head of the queue.
According to Fabrizio Romano, however, Arsenal have no intention of letting the Hale End Academy graduate depart this month, while the player himself remains committed to his boyhood club.
Arteta is still without the likes of Fabio Vieira and Thomas Partey through injury, while Kai Havertz has struggled to fully convince in the void created by Granit Xhaka’s summer departure.
Responding to speculation about West Ham’s interest, Arteta spoke at his pre-match press conference ahead of today’s Saturday’s game against Crystal Palace and said: ‘I’m really happy with Emile.
‘He’s on the right trajectory now he’s settled and he’s training really well. You know that I’m not going to talk about any individual situation.
‘No change, Emile is Emile. He’s got incredible qualities, we are really happy to have him.
‘What he needs now is chances to put all those desired qualities on the pitch. In order to do that, we have to give him minutes.’
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