Despite once promising to be the heir-apparent to the dynamic Mesut Ozil at the Emirates, Hale End graduate Smith Rowe was hampered by injuries as he attempted to stamp down a starting XI place and tumbled down Arteta’s pecking order.
With the writing on the wall, the 24-year-old jumped ship to Fulham in August, signed for £34million, and has so far notched three league goals and a pair of assists to boot whilst becoming one of the first names on Marco Silva’s team sheet.
Smith Rowe hasn’t looked back since swapping the north of London for the west, but a glance into his past will be unavoidable this Sunday, as he reunites with his former team-mates and the manager who supposedly ‘failed’ him.
Questioned in the summer if he had felt sad after Smith Rowe’s departure, Arteta replied: "A lot. When I had the talk with Emile, I really felt it.
"First of all because I have huge gratitude because he came into the team at a tough moment. I think he was the player that made our supporters, and the team click, in a way. I don't know how to explain it but that was my feeling. Something changed when he came in the team. He created a different energy straight away."
Smith Rowe played a pivotal role and found the back of the net 11 times in all competitions during the 2021/22 season, as Arteta’s upturn in charge of the Gunners began. They went from an eighth-place finish in the previous campaign to narrowly missing out on Champions League football in fifth.
The following term, Arsenal would come agonisingly close to a league title. Yet, despite Smith Rowe looking like a star in the making, the English ace would be unable to help, as a groin injury and resultant surgery sidelined him for most of the season. After returning from his ailment, a transfer became inevitable.
Arteta continued: "I have a feeling like 'argh', that I have not got the best out of him. Obviously a lot of things happened in that time. From my side it was really sad, because I know how those boys feel when they are in that building, how hard everyone works to get them close to the first team.
"I feel a huge responsibility to give them the chance. And now, can they sustain this level and make us better? That is the idea."
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