Mikel Arteta could deploy Arsenal's 'own Foden' amid striker transfer dilemma

Emile Smith Rowe has already reached something of a crossroads in his Arsenal career despite having only had a solitary full season in the first team.

The Hale End Academy graduate shot onto the scene after a loan spell in the Championship with Huddersfield Town and became a real contender to seize the playmaker role for himself at the Emirates Stadium, especially after being bestowed with the number 10 shirt. He did just that in the early months of the 2021/22 season with eight Premier League strikes to his name before the turn of the year.

However, since then it has not quite gone to plan for the now 21-year-old. After he found the net against Brentford back in February, he was handed just six league starts in the closing months of the season - his only goal contribution being a strike in the memorable 4-2 victory against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Martin Odegaard was regularly preferred by Mikel Arteta in the number 10 position, the Norwegian having enjoyed an impressive debut season at the Emirates Stadium having made his loan move from Real Madrid permanent. Meanwhile, Smith Rowe's fellow academy graduate Bukayo Saka had the right-flank claimed for his own, with Gabriel Martinelli having re-emerged as a viable option on the left for the Gunners.

That dilemma is likely to remain next season, potentially leaving one of Arsenal's most creative and threatening players without a defined role in the side. Luckily, Arteta could potentially look to his spell at the Etihad Stadium to get a little bit of inspiration over how Smith Rowe's talents could be best deployed.

City starlet Phil Foden enjoyed his breakout with the reigning Premier League champions during Arteta's time as Pep Guardiola 's assistant coach. As his development has progressed, the England man has gone on to take up multiple positions in the City side - one of the most recent being a central attacker - the side having had a lack of an out-and-out forward throughout large swaths of the campaign.

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He has certainly taken the chance. According to transfermarkt, the four-time Premier League champion scored nine goals from 19 appearances from central positions this season - an exemplary strike rate.

Arteta has already hinted that Smith Rowe could be in line for a similar role having waxed lyrical about the midfielder's ability to occupy that position alongside a clutch of others. He said: "He can play as a left winger, he can play as a left attacking midfielder, right attacking midfielder and he can play as a nine — very, very well I think."

Whilst some will argue that there will once again be no space for Smith Rowe to be deployed as a number nine should Arsenal enter the market for a new striker, it is quite feasible that the Gunners could go without this summer - particularly without the attraction of Champions League football.

A number of names have of course already been linked with a move to the Emirates Stadium including Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Victor Osimhen but it remains to be seen whether the north London outfit would be willing to fork-out the astronomical transfer fees that Everton and Napoli would be demanding respectively.

With Eddie Nketiah looking likely to pen a new deal at the club, that could see the Gunners prioritise other positions such as central midfield - leaving little funds for investment in forward positions. Arteta's solution then could well be Smith Rowe.

So, despite having reached somewhat of a crossroads in his Arsenal career, the academy graduate could well have been inadvertently handed the direction that he needs to re-establish himself as a first-choice starter.