Having arrived at the club at just 10 years old, Emile Smith Rowe has experienced a wide range of emotions in his career so far.
Earmarked as a major talent from an early age, the attacking midfielder has also had to deal with some difficult moments but, after signing a new long-term deal, he only feels optimism about the future now.
"It's been a crazy journey, like I said, being here since I was 10 years old, coming through the ranks with loads of team-mates and stuff along the way," Smith Rowe told Arsenal.com. "So finally putting pen to paper on a long-term deal is something that I've been waiting to do.
"I feel like it's definitely been an up and down journey, there have been a lot of downs with injuries and so on, and I feel like I've had a lot of experience, going out on loan and stuff. So it's definitely been a hard one, but I'm really happy to commit my future to Arsenal.
"I feel like I don't really try to set myself any challenges going forward, I try to keep moving forward game by game and see how it goes. I don't like to put too much pressure on myself, but I'm sure it's going to be a big season for me and the team as well."
So what has Mikel Arteta and the coaching team said to Smith Rowe about what they want from him this season?
"The manager always wants me to score more goals, I think that's important for the position that I play in," he said. "So I just want to try and score and create more goals for the team, I think that will help us majorly, so that's what I'm going to focus onin training as well."
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