- Arsenal played their first pre-season friendly against Bournemouth in the US
- Emile Smith Rowe did not play in the 1-1 draw after being linked with Fulham
- Mikel Arteta has now provided an update on his future at the club
Mikel Arteta has hinted that an Emile Smith Rowe exit is imminent amid reports linking him to Fulham.
It was reported earlier today that Fulham are close to reaching an agreement for the attacking midfielder for a fee around £35million.
The 23-year-old didn’t feature in Arsenal’s 1-1 with Bournemouth in Los Angeles despite every outfield player having been substituted in the match.
On Smith Rowe’s future, Arteta said: ‘Yeah there are things happening in the background at the moment. We decided the best thing to do was to keep him away from the game today.’
The Spaniard fielded a team full of youngsters against Bournemouth and was enthusiastic about their display.
Emile Smith Rowe did not play against Bournemouth after being linked with a move to Fulham
Mikel Arteta has now hinted that Smith Rowe’s Arsenal exit is imminent
Arteta was pleased with how his young players, including Ethan Nwaneri (pictured), performed on Wednesday night
Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri were among the academy players who started and shone.
He said: ‘Very pleased. We have a very different context today with so many young players – most of them making their debuts for us.
‘Really pleased to see them, just looking at their faces and the energy and understanding that they were going to be involved was great.
‘And I think the senior players had a good game. It was a really competitive match against Bournemouth as we expected.
‘They are a little bit ahead of us in terms of the time that they had to prepare. Good competitive match, with a lot of things to take forward.’
