Did Arsenal dodge a bullet letting Hale End star Leave with consistency still an Issue? | OneFootball

It’s always encouraging to see former Gunners leave Arsenal and thrive elsewhere. How proud are you to see Mika Beireth making his mark in Ligue 1? Tweets like this are guaranteed to bring a smile to the face of any Arsenal fan:

That said, there are some players who leave, and you can’t help but feel Arsenal made the right decision by letting them go. With this in mind, do you believe Arsenal dodged a bullet by allowing Emile Smith Rowe to depart? When Smith Rowe burst onto the scene during the 2020-21 season, he carried immense promise. Many believed he and Bukayo Saka were destined to become the next big stars emerging from Hale End to shine for Arsenal over the next decade.

(Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)

After a brilliant 2021-22 campaign in which he contributed 10 goals and 2 assists across 33 league appearances, injuries unfortunately struck, and he hasn’t been the same since. Over the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, Smith Rowe struggled to rediscover the magical moments that endeared him to the Emirates faithful.

Some fans argued he wasn’t given sufficient opportunities to prove himself. Regardless, the decision was made in the summer of 2024 for Smith Rowe and Arsenal to part ways, with Fulham securing his services for £27 million.

Eight months into his time at Craven Cottage, Smith Rowe has yet to prove Arsenal were wrong to let him go. While he hasn’t been poor, he hasn’t lived up to the player Fulham believed they were getting. Marco Silva’s recent comments about Smith Rowe highlight the club’s frustrations with his inconsistency. Despite ample game time, including 23 starts and 9 appearances off the bench, Smith Rowe hasn’t been able to consistently deliver.

Silva remarked to reporters: “For a player with his quality, with his talent, of course we all expected consistency – we expected to see him have an impact every single game in a Fulham shirt. He has probably played more than 20-25 games already. We saw the impact in half of them, but for a player like him we expect, we want, and we are working with him to have much more impact in a consistent way.”

While Smith Rowe’s talent remains undeniable, he needs to show greater effort and consistency—traits Arsenal also demanded of him during his time at the club. Perhaps he is still adapting to Fulham or coming to terms with leaving his boyhood club, but he must rediscover the form that once had Gooners questioning why Arsenal signed Martin Ødegaard when they already had him.

Fulham are an ambitious club, and if Smith Rowe doesn’t reclaim his spark, he risks being replaced—a sobering thought for a player once heralded as having immense potential.

Interestingly, Arsenal and Fulham will meet in the Premier League on Tuesday night at the Emirates Stadium. It will be fascinating to see how Smith Rowe performs against his former side in such a crucial match.

Michelle M _____________________________________________________________________________________________

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