Arsenal journalist Charles Watts has been sharing some insight regarding Gunners midfielder Emile Smith Rowe and the possibility of him signing a new contract at the north London club, amidst reported transfer interest from fellow Premier League club Aston Villa.
This comes after Watts recently uploaded a video onto his YouTube channel, where he spoke about a number of talking points surrounding Mikel Arteta’s side.
On the subject of Smith Rowe, Watts had this to say about the player and his current situation.
He said: “He’s back at London Colney this week, Arsenal need to get him and his agent in a room at London Colney and not let them out until his contract gets signed, because I’m getting fed up with Aston Villa making bids for Emile Smith Rowe.
“Arsenal born and bred, certainly since a very young age, London boy, playing week in week out in the first team at Arsenal with his mates, why on earth are people even talking about the prospect of him leaving? Just get that contract done.
“I mean, there’s no update from what I’ve previously said about this – Arsenal still very, very confident that they’re going to get this done. They believe it’s close and it’s just a case of getting it over the line.
“They know what Smith Rowe wants, his agent wants, and they’re not too concerned by this noise coming from Aston Villa, and their stance with Smith Rowe, as it has always been, is he’s absolutely not for sale, and that they think he will sign a new contract.”
As a product of Arsenal’s youth academy, Smith Rowe made his senior debut for the club back in September 2018 under former Gunners manager Unai Emery during a Carabao Cup clash against Brentford.
Since then, the 20-year-old, who is currently valued at £16.2 million, has made 45 senior appearances for Arsenal across all competitions, in which he has scored seven goals and provided seven assists in the process (per Transfermarkt).
TIF Thoughts on Charles Watts’ comments on Smith Rowe and his current situation at Arsenal…
As Watts mentioned, with Villa reportedly preparing a third bid to sign Smith Rowe this summer after having two rejected by the Gunners, it would certainly put their hopes of signing the Englishman to bed if he were to sign a new deal with Arsenal, which makes it understandable why he is so keen to see it happen.
Are you confident Smith Rowe will sign a new deal at Arsenal this summer?
Yes
No
In our view, if Arsenal are serious about keeping hold of Smith Rowe and not letting him go to Villa, then they need to offer him a deal that he wouldn’t be able to refuse, even though his current deal doesn’t expire until 2023.
In other news: Arsenal tipped to complete huge deal as player ‘really wants’ to join