🔴 Out-of-favour Arsenal star "wants and needs to play" more amid transfer speculation

Could he move on this January?

Emile Smith Rowe wants and needs more playing time, Fabrizio Romano has confirmed in today’s edition of his exclusive Daily Briefing column.

It’s been a challenging start to the new campaign for Smith Rowe, who finds himself out of favour at Arsenal, where there is more competition than ever before, with the likes of Fabio Vieira and Kai Havertz joining the club since a major injury complaint kept him out for a lengthy period.

It remains to be seen if Smith Rowe will definitely be on the move in January, but Romano has seemed to hint that this could be a situation which will be looked at more closely if his situation doesn’t improve in the next few months.

“Arsenal fans keep asking me about Emile Smith Rowe’s situation, but we will have to wait and see,” Romano said.

“At the moment he’s not pushing to leave so we can’t predict the future. Of course Smith Rowe wants and needs to play but he also understands it’s not easy for Mikel Arteta now as there are many key players in the squad.”

He added: “The next three months will be important to understand his future in 2024.”

What has Arteta said about Smith Rowe?

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta recently addressed questions about Smith Rowe’s lack of playing time, suggesting his fitness after such a long time out was key, insisting that he still rated the player and that everyone at the club loves him.

“Well, there’s been many reasons why he hasn’t started a match. Obviously, he was out for a long, long time. And then he had the sequence of matches that he played with the national team,” Arteta said.

“Obviously we speak with our players and we try to explain the reason why we make certain decisions, but he’s clear on what he needs to do – which is performing on the pitch and giving the best to win games for us.

“He us incredibly popular. We all love him. It’s no different what the people feel and what we feel about him. But one thing is to be there, the other one is to start, and then once you start, are you consistent to stay there, and you have to stay fit as well.”

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