Aston Villa ‘remain interested’ in neglected Arsenal star Mikel Arteta is willing to sell this month

Aston Villa reportedly ‘remain interested’ in long-term target Emile Smith Rowe, who could be sold by Arsenal this month as they look to generate funds for their own business. 

The 23-year-old was one of the Gunner’s most important players only a couple of years ago but has fallen down the pecking order in recent times.

Smith Rowe scored an impressive 10 goals in the 2021/22 season. However, he has made just one Premier League start this term.

As mentioned, it has been claimed that the attacking midfielder could be sold to give Mikel Arteta more funds to play with.

His sale would benefit Arsenal in terms of FFP, too, as he is an academy product and any money received for his sale would go down as pure profit on the club’s books.

Arteta is looking to bring in a new midfielder this month. Aston Villa’s Douglas Luiz was his main target but he appears out of reach this month, so the coach has switched his attention to Everton’s Amadou Onana.

Therefore, Aston Villa may well get a chance to sign Smith Rowe in the next couple of weeks.

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Aston Villa could reignite interest in Smith Rowe

Aston Villa reportedly made a bid of £25m for Smith Rowe in 2021 and it seems that their interest hasn’t gone away.

As exclusively revealed by TEAMtalk, West Ham are also interested in signing the former England under-21s international.

According to journalist Alex Crook, the Villains are indeed still interested in Smith Rowe, so an offer for him this month isn’t out of the question.

“Arsenal might have to move a couple of players out to get players in. There’s interest in Mohamed Elneny from Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and they’d cash in on Thomas Partey if they could, given his injury record and the fact he’s on good wages.

“I’m keen to see what they do with Smith Rowe because I think Aston Villa’s interest is still there.

“We know that Arsenal like Douglas Luiz, but Villa aren’t going to let him go at this moment in time because they’re competing for the top four themselves.”

Smith Rowe has made a total of 108 appearances for Arsenal since breaking into the first team in 2019.

At one point, he was on the verge of breaking into England’s first team, so a move away from the Emirates could be the best thing to help him get his career back on track.

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