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Emile Smith Rowe of Arsenal scored a stunner against Atletico de Madrid in the pre-season friendlies (no, not calling it another cup) in the humid evening of Singapore but this is not the first time that the 17-year-old has come up with something sensational. You can watch the strike here.
Born in Croydon on 28th July 2000 - Emile joined Arsenal's Hale End Academy when he was only ten years old and has been developing magnificently. The academy product with an all-Arsenal DNA broke into the under-23s in 2016/17, at the mere age of sixteen and scored six times in 14 appearances for the under-18s.
One year back in July, he signed his first professional contract with Arsenal allowing Emery to select him for the senior team - a move that is most likely going to save millions for Arsenal Football Club in new signings and Mislintat is probably wiping the sweat off his forehead after seeing Emile perform.
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Emile Smith Rowe also has an u-17 World Cup Winners medal with England and let us dive into the various stunners the teenage prodigy has manufactured from midfield which warrants his place on the Arsenal substitutes bench at least. Heck, even Hector Bellerin thinks so.
He scored a curling free kick which even David Beckham would be proud of in last year's Youth FA Cup against Colchester helping Arsenal win the quarter final 5-1.
However, he did turn down Barcelona and Tottenham a year back to stick with Arsenal, his boyhood academy and shows to have a lot of what it takes to have imbibed Gunners DNA.
Emile's most audacious attempt came against Sunderland under-23s where he did this. The angle at which the ball swerves is unbelievable and the youth prospect can only progress further as he matures. He turns eighteen in twenty-four hours as I write this and I hope that Unai Emery guides and counsels him the right way before the swanky life of big money offers lures him away.
His solo run against the heart of Blackpool is reminiscent of the menacing runs of Patrick Vieira and a younger Jack Wilshere. He made it through the core of Blackpool's defence and ultimately won a penalty:
All this points to only one thing - given the right kind of training and mental focus, the young boy from Croydon has what it takes to be at Arsenal and help steer them back towards more successful campaigns in the face of limited transfer budgets but can he do it alone?
Arsenal fans may well be interested in his progress and even allow themselves to get excited even but there is an all too familiar reckoning that comes along with it - Stan Kroenke will tell Unai to cash in on him if a good offer comes.
Majority partner Stan Kroenke has run Arsenal Football Club as a businessman and not as a fan and he has every right to do so - he is the one who has bought majority shares into the company and expectedly wants to make a profit out of his investment.
But this is why youth products who are honed at Arsenal Football Club are sold time and time again as soon as they reach a semi-peak where they can be sold off as an appreciating stock and a profit can be made off them. Alex Song was sold for a paltry £15 million to Barcelona just cause they wanted him in a year which saw him and van Persie link well in long balls in the previous season. Of course, lies were well perpetuated for his departure but the midfielder wanted to stay at the Emirates.
David Dein is no more at the helm but he would allow core prospects to mature and helped Wenger acquire additional reinforcements in what he needed to compete. That was because David Dein was a childhood supporter of the Islington club and wanted it to excel as well before making the money - which came automatically through successes garnered.
But of course those days are long gone and American corporates have taken over the club at London where year-end revenues must exceed that of the last year or stay the same with reports suggesting that Kroenke might even be using Arsenal to squeeze out the profits and instead of reinvesting, uses them back in the USA to fund his other weaker projects.
Understandably, Wenger performed under Dein and did his best to keep the club competing under Kroenke while budgets reduced and he was forced to sell stars that he helped build so that AFC always made a profit. It will not change and Unai Emery knows it. He was selected because he can work in a tight budget as proved by his work at Sevilla.
This is why Emile Smith Rowe will be used to develop into a brilliant potential (high stock value) and sold off before he can actually contribute towards a title success or players around him will be whenever a core group needed to be established and this is why Arsenal will pretend to compete but peter out as the seasons progress due to a lack of squad depth or due to a lack of motivation from impassionate personnel feeling suffocated under the pressure to perform under severe financial constraints.
But then - hope is what football fans cling on to and people will hope that they can sing, "In Unai, We Trust" rather than scream, "Unai Out" and never learn that their anger is completely misdirected. The Glazers out campaign at Manchester United forced the American owners to invest heavily in the team but then we will be fed the corporate response of money doesn't guarantee...
