Crystal Palace have now seen a bid rejected for a player who Ian Wright adores.
There has been little progress with recruitment lately – as far as we know – after Jaden Philogene rejected an offer from Crystal Palace in favour of joining Aston Villa.
Michael Olise’s £50.8m move to Bayern Munich was also confirmed in the meantime, bringing the mood down even more.
Now – however – a bid has been submitted as Dougie Freedman targets a Premier League player, rather than his usual stomping ground down in the Championship…
Crystal Palace see Emile Smith Rowe bid rejected
A story from Sky Sports now states that Crystal Palace have seen a bid rejected by Arsenal for Emile Smith Rowe.
The England international has also been the subject of a rejected offer from Fulham as well.
Smith Rowe himself is assessing his options as he targets regular first-team football, with Arsenal inclined to sell for the right price as the man from Croydon enters the final 24 months of his contract.
Sky Sports add that talks are ongoing inside Crystal Palace as to whether an improved bid should be submitted, with the same conversations believed to be happening at Fulham too.
Smith Rowe made just 13 Premier League appearances under Mikel Arteta last season, with only three of those coming as starts.
As aforesaid, Wright – who scored 30 goals in 78 appearances for Crystal Palace – is a big fan of the Arsenal academy graduate, previously calling him a “quality” footballer while working as a pundit on ITV Sport.
Crystal Palace are believed to be unwilling to go as high as Fulham in the bidding war for Smith Rowe – who is keen to stay in London.
Move for Arsenal No.10 would only make sense if Ebere Eze goes
In our view, a move for Smith Rowe makes little sense right now.
The Londoner is a right footed attacking midfielder who tends to cut in from a left sided role, often picking up the same pockets of space that we saw Ebere Eze take full advantage of in our 5-0 win over Aston Villa on the final day of last season.
Smith Rowe has rarely showed the same effectiveness on the right flank, where a left-footer like Olise would provide better balance than the £40,000-a-week man.
There is also the question of where Daichi Kamada would fit if we signed the Arsenal No.10 this summer – the Japan international is also a right footed attacking midfielder, who likes to pick up similar areas to Eze and Smith Rowe.
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Therefore, unless Eze leaves – the England international is said to be leaning towards a move to Tottenham – an improved bid for Smith Rowe just wouldn’t make much sense, in our view.
