Why Smith Rowe is 'one of the signings of the summer'

Alex Keble assesses the qualities Emile Smith Rowe will bring to Fulham following his move across London from Arsenal.

Player analysis - Emile Smith Rowe (Fulham)

There was a time when Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka were not just on a similar trajectory but considered – jointly - to be the future of Arsenal: the academy graduates whose joyful football would spark a new age of success under Mikel Arteta.

Nobody expected their paths to diverge so dramatically. Saka has flourished, Smith Rowe has endured two bitterly frustrating years of injury and stunted progress.

In that time our memory of Smith Rowe’s talent has dimmed. How easy it is to forget the surging runs, the intelligence between the lines and the swaggering creativity that justified those rolled-down socks.

Since the beginning of 2022/23, Smith Rowe has started three Premier League matches and played a grand total of 525 minutes, the equivalent of just under six full 90 minutes.

In one respect, then, Fulham are taking a risk.

But just a cursory glance at Smith Rowe’s highlights reel from when he first burst onto the scene says otherwise. He is an excellent signing.

Smith Rowe's PL stats

Proven performer

Looking back at his 2020/21 and 2021/22 numbers, from the two seasons in which Smith Rowe was a regular starter for Arteta, we are reminded of his extraordinary ability.

What stood out most was Smith Rowe’s clever movement between the lines, his ability to drive forward after receiving the ball on the half-turn and his speed of thought in tight spaces.

It made Smith Rowe the perfect foil to Saka when starting on the left, although he excelled most as one of the dual No 8s alongside Martin Odegaard.

It was here that his intelligence shone through, and where – between 2020 and 2022 – he became a fan favourite.

In those two seasons Smith Rowe amassed 15 goals and nine assists across all competitions, creating 69 chances from open play to put him third among Arsenal players behind Odegaard and Saka, who produced 97 and 101 respectively, according to Opta.

His playing style differs significantly from both of those players.

Where Saka isolates defenders in the dribble and Odegaard has the deft touch of an old-school No 10, Smith Rowe is a gliding, surging midfielder who weaves through the middle much in the way Jack Grealish used to for Aston Villa.

He is also a more tenacious player than either Saka or Odegaard, snapping into challenges and counter-pressing with an infectious urgency.

We have seen far less of this recently, and yet there is evidence Smith Rowe’s quality has not diminished.

In October 2023 he came off the bench at Stamford Bridge and helped inspire a comeback from 2-0 down to 2-2.

The following week he started his first match in 17 months, grabbing an assist in Arsenal’s 5-0 win over Sheffield United, only for another injury to leave him on the sidelines until April – when he was the standout performer in a 2-0 victory over Luton Town, playing a crucial role in both goals.

That tells us Smith Rowe still has the ability to grab matches by the scruff of the neck, even with lengthy absences between appearances.

With a run in the team, it surely won’t be long before Fulham supporters feel the same way about him as Arsenal fans.

Smith Rowe’s dribbling well-suited to Silva’s tactics

Marco Silva’s tactics have been disarmingly simple in the two seasons since Fulham returned to the Premier League.

After regaining the ball, Fulham look to move quickly and directly into the wings, where wide players carry the ball forward before crossing to the target up front.

Last season, 75 per cent of Fulham’s attacks were built down the wings, the fifth-most in the division, while only three sides attempted more than their 736 crosses. Only Brentford completed more crosses into the box than Fulham’s 94.

In this regard, Smith Rowe is a very good fit. His carries from a standing start and his tendency to drift wide from a central starting position complement Silva’s tactical strategy and, more generally, complement a counter-attacking approach.

In his best season, 2021/22, Smith Rowe averaged 2.49 attempted take-ons per 90 minutes, a number that last season was only bettered at Fulham by wingers Alex Iwobi and Willian, who produced 2.95 and 2.76 take-ons per match respectively.

Indeed, Fulham were rock bottom of the Premier League last season for attempted take-ons, with 550, despite their desire to get the ball wide and drive forward as often as possible.

Smith Rowe is exactly what they need, then, even if we need reminding about just how good he can be.

“He’s as good as anyone in the league when he’s running with the ball,” was Jamie Carragher’s assessment of Smith Rowe back in October 2021. At the time, we all nodded in agreement.

That kind of ability is a huge advantage for a Fulham team who want to carry the ball in the transition - but who lack pure dribblers to break the lines consistently.

A Pereira upgrade?

It also helps that his previous training as a left winger has given Smith Rowe a proclivity for drifting out to the flanks.

Taking an example almost at random, a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea in August 2021, in which Smith Rowe played the full match as a No 10, his touch map shows how often he gravitates towards the touchline before sweeping past opponents like a young Grealish.

Smith Rowe is tailor-made for the Silva system, and he is also a clear upgrade on the current No 10, Andreas Pereira, as we can see by comparing Pereira last season to Smith Rowe’s peak in 2021/22.

Smith Rowe v Pereira comparison

Pereira is a more purely creative playmaker, creating 2.9 chances per 90 minutes last season, compared with Smith Rowe’s 1.41 in 2021/22, but the latter is better suited to how Silva wants to move through the thirds.

Smith Rowe is a major talent – and a major coup

Altogether, Smith Rowe will give the Fulham defenders progressive passing options, thrust on the counter-attack and supply (and support) the wingers for those crosses into the box.

Add to that his box-crashing ability, most notably when he scored 10 Premier League goals in 2021/22, and it’s easy to see how Smith Rowe can become a key player either by creating chances out wide or, if the attack is building down the other wing, by finishing them off in the box.

It also doesn’t hurt that Smith Rowe is a proficient left winger willing to cut inside and shoot, suggesting he can also fill in here and there, and be a possible long-term replacement for Willian.

But more than any of that – more important, even, than the solid tactical fit – Smith Rowe is a marquee signing for Fulham that signals confidence in their long-term prospects in the Premier League.

He is a superb footballer; a one-time England prospect and, until recently, a young man expected to play a starring role in Arsenal’s future.

Fulham have pulled off one of the deals of the summer.