Ex-Arsenal duo called out for 'not reaching potential' as Arteta call vindicated

Former Arsenal pair Eddie Nketiah and Emile Smith Rowe have been called out for not realising their potential by Crystal Palace boss Pierre Sage.

The duo came through the ranks at the Emirates and were initially given chances during the Mikel Arteta era. Both had huge promise as teenagers and the hope was that they would go on to become regulars for the Gunners.

They each endured individual moments in the spotlight, but a lack of consistency coupled with the club spending big to bring in players in their positions stunted their growth and development - which eventually led to them leaving the north London club.

Nketiah, who would score 38 times for Arsenal, eventually moved to Palace in 2024 but has by no means made himself a regular with the Eagles. Smith Rowe meanwhile move to Fulham in the same summer as he sought more minutes - but Sage admits neither have perhaps become the players many hoped.

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The Palace boss said, after seeing Nketiah score the winner in the Eagles' Carabao Cup success over Fulham: “I think his potential is higher than his performance for the moment and we have to reduce this gap because he needs [it] and because the team needs [it].

“First of all, when you have the talent and you have the skills in you it’s a mental thing. You have to be quiet, you have to be determined and you have to find the balance between these two things.

“In this situation the fact that you don’t play too much, the fact that you have pressure when you play because you need to score to stay on the pitch - this kind of thing - it’s maybe a bad period. But when you will switch I think he is able to do really important things for us. But I know another player in the other team, [Emile] Smith Rowe, and I think it’s similar. Because it’s a big potential and now he is not at his level of what we saw before.”

Both men are now in their mid-20s and have settled at mid-table Premier League clubs. Nketiah saw Gabriel Jesus arrive at the Emirates before Kai Havertz emerged as a favourite to lead the line and Arteta admitted the striker "wanted and needed to play more minutes".

Smith Rowe meanwhile, who scored 11 times in his best year at Arsenal as Arteta recovered from a nightmare start, gradually fell down the pecking order as the likes of Martin Odegaard were signed in his position.

The Arsenal boss confessed that he was partly responsible for not maximising his potential before Smith Rowe left. He previously said: "I have a feeling like ‘argh’, that I have not got the best out of him. Obviously a lot of things happened in that time."