Fulham has agreed in principle to a record-breaking transfer deal with Arsenal for Emile Smith Rowe. Fulham will pay an initial £27 million, with add-ons potentially bringing the total to £34 million, setting a new club record. Smith Rowe, who logged only 346 minutes in the Premier League last season, is scheduled for a medical this week.
Fulham plans to submit an improved bid for Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay once Smith Rowe’s transfer is finalized. Despite making just three starts last season due to a knee injury in October, the 24-year-old boasts three senior England caps, the last in March 2022, and was part of the squad that clinched the UEFA European Under-21 Championship last summer.
Fulham’s pre-season training camp kicks off in Portugal on Tuesday, and the club hopes Smith Rowe will join the squad there. Smith Rowe, eager for consistent first-team action, views this transfer as a perfect fit. He participated in Arsenal’s U.S. pre-season tour but remained on the bench in last week’s friendly against Bournemouth in Los Angeles, where Arsenal secured a win on penalties. This transfer is seen as a strategic win for all parties involved.
Asked about the Arsenal’s graduate future after the game, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said: “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.”
Smith Rowe also was not included in the squad for their friendly match against Manchester United over the weekend and the latest reports from Arsenal camp in their US Tour is that he has now departed the tour to finalize his transfer to Fulham.
The creative midfielder, who joined the Hale End academy aged ten, showed his potential by scoring ten goals in 33 Premier League appearances in 2021/22, having made his first-team debut in September 2018, aged 18, before netting his first goal just two weeks later.
He gained experience during loan spells with Red Bull Leipzig in the Bundesliga in 2019 and Huddersfield Town in the Championship the following year, before returning home and netting his first Premier League goal for us against West Brom in May 2021.
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