Mesut Ozil has been impressed with the development of Emile Smith Rowe (Picture: Getty)

Mesut Ozil has been impressed with Arsenal’s group of emerging young talents but has urged Unai Emery not to forget injury stricken midfielder Emile Smith Rowe.

The 18-year-old shot to prominence during last year’s pre-season tour of the Asia and subsequently impressed during the early rounds of the Carabao Cup and Europa League group stages.

Smith Rowe was subsequently sent out on loan to RB Leipzig in January but was restricted to just three appearances for the Bundesliga club due to injury.

The talented midfielder, now fully recovered, was included as part of Arsenal’s squad for the current tour of America and Ozil is looking forward to the teenager recapturing his best form.




‘Right now, we have a lot of young players,’ he said. ‘Yesterday, Joe Willock played with us, he really showed his quality. Eddie [Nketiah], everyone knows Eddie in the team, he is fighting hard & wants to help us.

‘Reiss [Nelson], he had a lot of experience in Germany. He played very well during the season over there.

‘Don’t forget Emile [Smith Rowe]. He is injured so he is coming back, we know his quality as well. At Arsenal, I think we are lucky to have those young player.’

Emile Smith Rowe missed most of the second half of last season through injury (Picture: Getty)

Willock, in particular, caught the eye during the midweek win over Bayern Munich in Calafornia and Emery expects the England Under-20 international to have an even bigger influence at first team level this season.

‘It’s all progress with him because last year he started with us in the pre-season,’ said Emery. ‘His performance today is very different to last year, maybe because he knows our idea and spirit better.

‘He’s got a very big motivation and a very big ambition individually to make good performances, and he listens a lot to our idea.

‘We are speaking a lot to him individually, with Carcedo, with me. I really, really think that he made one more step last year during the season and he finished it very well with us, playing 12 minutes in the final against Chelsea with a big performance.

‘We now want him to take another step more in his capacity to be with us, with a big help in our performance and our idea.’