FOOTBALL Arsenal star Emile Smith Rowe "had been playing injured for five years" until he underwent surgery last season

Can Emile Smith Rowe replicate his 2021/2022 form after fully recovering from injury for Arsenal this season?

Emile Smith Rowe’s injury issues over the past few months have been well-documented, but his problems run deeper than many would have ever imagined.

Speaking in an interview with The Time before the start of the U21 European Championships,  Smith Rowe has actually been playing with pain since the age of 17.

“I had this injury in my groin since, maybe, I was 19 years old,” said. “I’d just been managing it season after season, getting injections and taking tablets to not feel it," he added.

“Last season [the 2021-22 campaign, where Smith Rowe scored 11 times and established himself as a key Arsenal player] I had an injection which would make me not feel my groin at all, even when kicking the ball. That was the only thing helping me get through games.

“But at the start of this season I was still feeling it and felt I couldn’t just keep having injections for the rest of my career. I got to Manchester United away [last September] and took a shot, off balance, but tried to use all my power. I knew as soon as I done it, I’d torn something.”

A specialist recommended an operation. “I actually got really upset,” he says. “I was scared. I’d never had surgery before.”

The big moment came. “They basically had to cut something and put it back together,” Smith Rowe says of the operation. After rehab and returning to training, he developed an infection. “There was a big blister on my groin and the surgeon had to take that out.”

This means that the midfielder has been playing with an injury for five years now, but, luckily, after having surgery a few months ago, it looks as though his issues may now be behind him.

The idea that Smith Rowe has been playing with pain for the past five years is truly frightening.

Not only is it scary to think that footballers deal with these injuries for so long, it’s scary to think just how good Smith Rowe could be upon his return.

Let’s not forget, at his best Smith Rowe was one of the best young players in England, and he was doing all that while dealing with an injury.

Just imagine what he could be like when he’s playing without pain, he could genuinely be one of Arsenal’s best players once again. However, the England international finds himself in a precarious situation next season given the club's recent transfer activity.

Smith Rowe had been playing as a left winger, but as the groin injury began to really get the better of him, Gabriel Martinelli got into the team and has since made the position his own.

There has been talk about him being "retrained" into a new deeper midfield role.

With Kai Havertz and Declan Rice signing for the club, Arsenal have already acquired two new players who can play in midfield this summer, and the fact that Smith Rowe is also being trained up there is an extra element to this whole conundrum.

Mikel Arteta has always valued versatility, so this does make sense, but from the outside looking in, it’s very difficult to figure out what Arsenal’s midfield is going to look like heading into next season. Despite reports linking him with a move out, Smith Rowe is determined to fight for his place in the team.

“Arsenal are my club and I’m not going to give up until [Arteta] says he doesn’t want me,” he says. “But that’s not the case. He wants me as part of the team and I want to fight for my place and get back in the team.”