Why hasn’t ‘super talent’ Emile Smith Rowe ‘kicked on’? Ex-Arsenal star restricted to substitute role at Fulham when he should be approaching his peak

A product of the fabled Hale End academy system, Smith Rowe - following a couple of loan spells - made 115 appearances for the Gunners after completing his senior breakthrough. He earned two caps for England in 2021, and another the following year.

Fierce competition for places at Arsenal was always going to make his difficult for a starting berth to be nailed down, meaning that alternative options could never be written off. Fulham came calling in the summer of 2024 and completed a then club-record transfer of £34 million ($46m).

Smith Rowe started brightly enough with the Cottagers and is closing in on 90 outings for the club across all competitions, but he registered just three top-flight goals last season and has found himself slipping down the pecking order at times.

Teenage wonderkid Josh King is ahead of him at present, with there only so many creative talents that can be fit into any one team, and that has led to all of his Premier League minutes in 2026-27 coming from off the bench.

Would it be fair to say that Smith Rowe has not fulfilled the potential that he showed at Arsenal? When that question was put to Murphy, the former Fulham star - who was speaking in association with Snabbare - told GOAL: “I think that's really fair, because what you're looking at is a super talent who's an intelligent footballer.

“And the thing that surprises me - I watch a lot of them, I had the games live last year as well - every time I've watched him play, he actually impacts the game. He makes chances and does really good things.

“I understand that people say he's a 10, if you like, and Josh King is this young superstar who's a super talent. But Josh King wasn't always playing himself last year when Emile Smith Rowe wasn't playing. And there's something that managers aren't seeing or aren't liking.

“I don't know whether it's application in training, ability to last the games in terms of physicality and endurance. I'm really surprised because every time I see him, he impacts the game.

“I feel for him a little bit because it doesn't look to me like he's lacking energy or fitness. It doesn't seem from what I'm hearing that he's a bad lad or causing a problem or trains badly. It's very hard to judge when you don't see for yourself. But I think he does have the quality to get in the team. I think he'd give them something.

“And as I say, very rarely when I watch Emile Smith-Rowe play does he not impact the game and create chances.

“But on the flip side to that, what you could argue at the start of this season is that for Fulham's poor start, they have actually attacked quite well and created a lot of chances in the games they played. I know they drew 0-0 at Liverpool, but they still looked a threat going forward.

“So maybe he [Alvaro Arbeloa] doesn't see him as a wide man and he only sees him competing with Josh King as a 10. But I'd like to see a lot more of him because I think he's got a lot to offer. And I'm as surprised as a lot of people that he hasn't kicked on because I think he's a super talent.”

Smith Rowe has started both of Fulham’s Carabao Cup fixtures this season - scoring in a 3-0 victory over AFC Wimbledon and helping them to a battling 3-2 third-round win at capital rivals West Ham.

It remains to be seen what the rest of the season has in store, with King, Alex Iwobi and Oscar Bobb being asked to fill attacking berths behind a central striker. Time is still on his side and he remains under contract until the summer of 2029.