Emile Smith-Rowe looks to have played his last game for Arsenal with the midfielder closing in on a £35m move to Fulham.
The signing is set to be a club record fee for Fulham, with the 23-year-old homegrown star having sat on the bench as Arsenal beat Bournemouth on penalties in Los Angeles in the first match of their USA tour.
He will also not feature in Saturday’s match against Manchester United and will return to London to seemingly end his 14-year Arsenal career, which started when he was only ten.
But the Gunners are set to complete the £42m signing of Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori.
Regarding Smith Rowe’s absence, Arteta said after the game: “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.”
On Calafiori he added: “There is no update. As soon as we have something to say we will be the first one to say. You know I don’t like talking about external players. But this is the situation at the moment.”
It later emerged that Arsenal also have no plans to sell either goalscorer Fabio Vieira or fellow midfielder Thomas Partey, who both impressed in Arsenal’s pre-season opener.
Smith Rowe’s departure will also give more opportunities for players such as Vieira and the latest crop of Hale End youngsters on tour with Arteta’s team.
The Spanish manager added: “I am 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.
“The younger players have impressed us in a really positive way. That’s the thing. It’s not easy to come up to the level and the standards that we’re at now. They’ve been a joy to work with every day.”
FEATURED IMAGE: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images VIA ONE FOOTBALL
