Arsenal’s prestigious Hale End Academy has achieved great results in recent years, producing the likes of Bukayo Saka and Max Dorman, but the youth system is also a strange case where talent has not blossomed.
If we go back more than a decade, this is the case with Jack Wilshire’s story. He dominated Barcelona as a teenager, leapfrogging Xavi and Iniesta, two of the greatest midfielders we’ve ever seen.
However, a series of horrific injuries has meant that English football’s next great hope has lost his form and fitness, and sadly for Arsenal, his place in the squad.
Super Jack returned to the Gunners as a coach to establish the academy, but was forced to retire early as a player. The 34-year-old is currently the manager of Luton Town, but in an alternate reality he is still getting minutes at Arsenal. He was poised to become a club legend.
There wasn’t the same level of hype surrounding Emile Smith Rowe, but his story at the Emirates Stadium ended in similarly disappointing fashion.
What went wrong with Smith Rowe at Arsenal?
Unai Emery didn’t do too well during his time in north London, but to his credit, the Spaniard was the one who gave Smith Rowe and Saka their first-team debuts.
Indeed, Mikel Arteta has a lot to thank his fellow Spaniard in that regard. Hale Enders were both cornerstones of Arteta’s first few years in charge, and it wouldn’t be too extreme to suggest they would have kept him in the job.
During Arteta’s full year as Arsenal’s featured player, Smith Rowe made 37 appearances in all competitions, scoring seven goals and providing seven assists.
He improved his form even further the following season and became a regular for England, finding the back of the net 10 times in 33 Premier League games. Unfortunately, it was for the best for the capital’s attacking midfielder.
Things started to deteriorate in the 2022/23 season. Smith Rowe missed much of the first half of the season with a groin injury, but when he returned, it made all the difference in the world.
Towards the end of his term, he did not start a single game in the Premier League. Martin Odegaard was ahead of him in the pecking order and was enjoying the best results of his career. No other midfielder scored more than the club captain’s 15 league goals that season.
Similarly, Gabriel Martinelli enjoyed the best season of his career on the left wing, Smith Rowe’s other preferred role. The Brazilian also scored 15 goals across all competitions.
Smith Rowe showed promising signs when he got the chance, but ultimately his best football was behind him. In the 2023-24 season, Arteta selected him as a starter in just three league games. As the season came to an end, the Englishman was unable to score consecutive goals. He now also has the likes of Leandro Trossard and Kai Havertz vying for a spot.
Arsenal have added depth to their squad as they look to challenge on four fronts, so it was no surprise that the academy graduate took time off to join Fulham in a £27m deal in the summer of 2024.
Smith Rowe’s story is a cautionary tale for the current crop of young stars in Arteta’s ranks.
Arsenal academy graduate could become Smith Rowe 2.0
It’s now 2026 and Arsenal are still fighting for the biggest trophy in the game, with the squad having the best depth in the country and possibly the best in European football. There is a reason why they are in first place in the Champions League.
But while this undoubtedly raised their hopes of ending their six-year trophy drought, the hopes of many players in the team were disappointed.
Oleksandr Zinchenko, Eddie Nketiah, Aaron Ramsdale, Kieran Tierney and Smith Rowe have all slumped in recent years, but there are many talented players with more potential than those who are struggling.
Arsenal’s biggest ever sale
Take a look at the record departures in Gunners history.
Their exits were all understandable. They had no future in the Emirates. However, the same cannot be said for Miles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri, who have fallen victim to Arsenal’s depth.
Lewis-Skelly has started 12 games this term, but it has been a tougher season for Nwaneri. In the space of a year, fortunes took a surprising turn for this teenager.
In fact, a year ago, Joe Cole waxed lyrical as Arsenal’s bright young players performed. As the Gunners defeated PSV 7-1 in the Champions League, the former midfielder said the academy graduate was “the most exciting footballer in England and probably Europe”.
It was difficult to dispute that claim. Just 17 years old at the time, he was enjoying an incredible season, scoring nine goals in 37 games. He came very close to breaking the senior goals record for players aged up to 18, held by Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen.
Nwaneri made his first-team debut at the age of 15. Although he is the youngest player in the club’s history, it was due to Saka’s injury situation that a proper opportunity arose a few years later.
The 18-year-old attacker relished the opportunity to replace Arsenal’s best player and took the opportunity with aplomb. But then the current campaign appeared.
Arsenal’s youngest debutant | |
|---|---|
player | Age at debut |
#1 Ethan Nwaneri | 15 years, 5 months, 28 days |
#2 Max Dauman | 15 years, 7 months, 23 days |
#3 jack porter | 16 years, 2 months and 10 days |
#4 Mari Salmon | 16 years, 3 months and 11 days |
#5 Cesc Fabregas | 16 years, 5 months and 24 days |
#6 jack wilshire | 16 years, 8 months, 12 days |
#7 germaine pennant | 16 years, 10 months and 15 days |
#8 paul wassen | 16 years, 11 months and 11 days |
#9 ryan smith | 16 years, 11 months, 18 days |
#10 Gedion Zelalem | 16 years, 11 months, 29 days |
The teenager has been the most exciting thing since last season’s sliced bread, but the 2025/26 season has been a real challenge for him. Like Lewis-Skelly, he has barely kicked a ball for Arsenal and has yet to start a single Premier League game.
Nwaneri started against Portsmouth in the EFL Cup and FA Cup third round, but it wasn’t enough for England’s next big hopes in football. Although much younger when it happened to Smith Rowe, the lack of game time for one of Hale End’s best products was eerily similar. So was signing a big-money contract to replace him.
Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke were signed last summer, but the youngsters’ hopes of earning regular game time have been severely damaged. He needed time and to do so he joined Marseille on loan, but life there was not easy either.
Arsenal chose the French team because they were managed by Roberto De Zerbi, who has a similar philosophy to Arteta, and everything was going well when he scored on his debut.
However, De Zerbi left the Ligue 1 club just a few weeks later and Nwaneri has now failed to start in four consecutive league games. He also missed a penalty in last weekend’s penalty shoot-out loss to Toulouse in the French Cup.
It’s too soon to write off Nwaneri completely, especially considering he turns 19 in a few weeks, but Smith Rowe’s Arsenal adventure holds a lesson for him.
If he doesn’t get more regular opportunities next season, we might have to worry about his future. Arteta will no doubt be incredibly keen to avoid a Smith Rowe situation here again.
Incoming Max Daumann has already agreed to sign with Arsenal in 2027
Arsenal’s Max Daumann was in exceptional form during the FA Cup at the weekend.
