Stan Collymore believes Emile Smith Rowe has the potential to be playing for England by the first international break of the season, and he’ll ‘stick two fingers up to Arteta’ to show him what he’s missing.
Smith Rowe has struggled for minutes at the Emirates over the last two seasons. Injuries to himself and the squad quality generally improving has meant he has played around 500 Premier League minutes in the two previous campaigns.
It was reported after the last season ended that he had asked to move on from Arsenal.
A move to Fulham now looks essentially complete, with transfer insider Fabrizio Romano having suggested he was signing his contract with the club, after the Gunners accepted a total package of £34million for his services.
And after the move to Craven Cottage, Smith Rowe has been tipped to do very well away from Arsenal.
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Smith Rowe to make rapid England ascent
‘I think Fulham will be a revelation for Smith Rowe, and as long as he doesn’t go “I’ve come down a step because I was at Arsenal, now I’m at Fulham,” everything is there for him to progress,’ he said in his Caught Offside column.
Further to that, Collymore feels England recognition, in the first international break of the season, is very possible, if he cracks on and plays well at Fulham, while showing Arsenal that they should not have let him go.
‘From an England point of view, a new coach is coming in and you’ve got a player there that’s got undoubted ability, and who should be wounded enough leaving Arsenal to basically stick two fingers up to Arteta and show him what he’s missing.
‘If he starts the season very well there is no good reason why he couldn’t see himself in an England squad come the Nations League,’ Collymore wrote.
The Nations League fixtures come three weeks after the start of the season, so it would be a rapid ascent for Smith Rowe if he was to make the next England squad.
But that there is a new manager at the helm, a few good performances – which he is clearly capable of after his best season at Arsenal involved 13 goal contributions – could see that happen.
If it does, Smith Rowe will have waited two and a half years between England appearances, last playing in March 2022, against Ivory Coast.
That was only a few months after he bagged his first goal and assist for the Three Lions, in a 10-0 victory over San Marino, when he played 73 minutes.
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