Emile Smith Rowe lined up for Premier League transfer switch in January and Arsenal fans have surprising reaction
A REPORT has claimed that Newcastle are plotting a January swoop for Emile Smith Rowe – and Arsenal supporters have reacted in surprising fashion.
The 23-year-old has only started one match this season for Mikel Arteta’s side, which came in the Carabao Cup.
The three-capped England international has been restricted to just two Premier League outings from the bench.
West Ham United have previously been linked with a swoop for the attacking midfielder.
Now the Northern Echo is claiming that Newcastle are keen on bringing him to the North East once the transfer window opens.
However, Arsenal’s £50m price tag could cause the Magpies issues on the FFP front.
Newcastle are believed to be preferring an initial loan deal with the option to turn it into a permanent arrangement in the future.
Arteta will no doubt want to lose any players mid-season as he and Arsenal look to topple Manchester City and become champions.
However, both Kieran Tierney and Albert Sambi Lokonga did depart on similar loan to buy arrangements over the summer.
And this update states that Arteta “could come under pressure to allow Smith Rowe to leave if an acceptable offer is received” in January.
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Smith Rowe “has already been discussed within Newcastle’s recruitment team as a potential target”.
The Magpies are also looking to offload “two or three of their fringe players in an attempt to further balance the books”.
And it seems that Gooners would be happy to cash in on their academy graduate judging by their reaction to this speculation on social media.
One wrote: “Last transfer window, we keep pushing and prevent him from leaving hoping he will get playing time, until now he hasn’t and we are going to another transfer window, don’t be surprised ESR will leave for good and I can’t go against him then.”
Another said: “I’m selling him for 50m ngl, it looks like Arteta won’t use him at all, so no point keeping him.”
“Give us that cash,” said another before a fellow fan added: “I think we’d accept anything above £30 million (being realistic).”
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