Arsenal are set to return up in opposition to a number of former gamers this weekend once they face Fulham. The Cottagers’ facet has a number of gamers who used to ply their commerce in North London reasonably than West London, and they’re in competition to face their previous membership on Sunday afternoon.
A kind of gamers is former goalkeeper Bernd Leno. He value Fulham £8m in 2022, making the transfer straight from Arsenal. Two of the opposite gamers are former academy stars, Alex Iwobi and Reiss Nelson, with the latter departing the membership over the summer time.
Arsenal can even come up in opposition to one other academy graduate who lately left the Emirates Stadium, Emile Smith Rowe.
Smith Rowe’s profession earlier than and after leaving Arsenal
The versatile attacking participant has had one thing of a irritating profession. He was meant to be tearing issues up for the Gunners alongside Buakyo Saka, however issues didn’t fairly work out how he nor each Arsenal fan had hoped.
The England worldwide made 115 appearances for the membership that helped deliver him by way of, scoring 18 objectives and grabbing 13 assists. He spent six seasons within the first crew on the Emirates Stadium, intertwined with two mortgage spells at German outfit RB Leipzig and Huddersfield City.
It was a formidable marketing campaign for the attacking midfielder in 2021/22 when he scored ten objectives and grabbed two assists in 33 Premier League video games.
Nevertheless, he didn’t have many alternatives in an Arsenal shirt after that. Damage was a part of the rationale why he performed simply 25 Premier League video games within the two seasons that adopted.
That mentioned, the attacker’s profession at Fulham up to now has been implausible. In 14 top-flight video games below Marco Silva, Smith Rowe has three objectives and two assists to his title. His former boss Mikel Arteta defined earlier than the sport he’s “actually glad” the Hale Finish star is enjoying so nicely as a result of he’s “a really particular expertise”.
Maybe Arteta regrets letting his former quantity ten go away this summer time and would possibly want he gave him yet one more season to get again to his elegant greatest. Nevertheless, there’s a new child on the block for the Gunners, who could possibly be their new Smith Rowe.
Arsenal’s new Smith Rowe
The teenager in query right here is the spectacular Ethan Nwaneri. It has been an actual breakthrough season for the Premier League’s youngest-ever participant. He made his debut in 2022/23 on the age of 15 years and 5 months previous.
After fleeting performances final season, Nwaneri has develop into a extra outstanding fixture in Arteta’s squad this time period. He has performed 11 instances in all competitions, scoring his first objectives in that well-known Purple shirt in opposition to Bolton Wanderers within the Carabao Cup, and his first top-flight purpose in opposition to Nottingham Forest in a 3-0 thrashing.
It was a implausible efficiency from the proficient younger winger in opposition to Preston North Finish, a recreation during which he additionally scored. As per Sofascore, the teenager, who performed as a complicated quantity eight, accomplished 98% of his passes and two out of three tried dribbles.
|
Nwaneri stats vs. Preston |
|
|---|---|
|
Stat |
Quantity |
|
Touches |
73 |
|
Cross accuracy |
98% |
|
Passes accomplished |
55/56 |
|
Floor duels gained |
4/6 |
|
Dribbles accomplished |
2/3 |
|
Tackles gained |
2/2 |
|
Variety of instances hit woodwork |
1 |
|
Stats from Sofascore |
|
Nwaneri is a participant who is extremely rated amongst Arsenal followers. Soccer analyst and Gunners supporter Ben Mattinson described him as a “particular” participant after his efficiency in opposition to the Lilywhites within the Carabao Cup.
Curiously, “particular” was a phrase Jamie Carragher used to explain Smith Rowe again in 2021 after a Premier League win over Crystal Palace. Though he was just a few years older on the time than the 17-year-old Nwaneri, it’s fascinating to see that he was rated simply as a lot when he started to interrupt into the primary crew.
There are actually similarities that may be drawn between Smith Rowe and Nwaneri. Not solely are they each well-loved and extremely rated by Arsenal followers and pundits alike, however each are merchandise of the esteemed Hale Finish academy.
Gunners followers could nicely look again on Smith Rowe’s time on the membership and marvel what may have been if he may have recaptured his type. Nevertheless, with Nwaneri, they will actually get excited in regards to the future.
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Maybe now, with video games coming thick and quick, it could possibly be the proper time for Nwaneri to be unleashed from the beginning…
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