Fabrizio Romano has claimed that Emile Smith Rowe is ready to commit his future to Arsenal, despite reported interest from Aston Villa.

What's the latest transfer news involving Smith Rowe?

The 20-year-old has recently been linked with the Villans, who had a £25m bid for the 6 foot midfielder turned down by Arsenal last week.

Recent reports have suggested that the Midlands-based club will return with an improved offer for the talented youngster, but Romano expects Smith Rowe to remain at the Emirates this summer.

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What did Romano say about Smith Rowe's future?

Romano confirmed on The Here We Go Podcast that Villa admire Smith Rowe, and he believes that they will continue to try to sign him.

However, he feels that Smith Rowe will spurn their advances and put pen to paper on a new deal at Arsenal instead, which has been his intention for a number of weeks.

Romano said: “Aston Villa are really in love with this player and they want to try and try again for Smith Rowe but, what I am told is that he’s set to sign his new contract with Arsenal. Also, before his holidays he was 100% convinced about going to sign the contract with Arsenal, so I expect Smith Rowe to sign soon.”

Why do Villa want to sign Smith Rowe?

It is understood that Villa want to add a creative midfielder to their ranks this summer.

They may have felt that Ross Barkley could fulfill this role when he came on loan from Chelsea at the start of the 2020/21 season. He started well by netting in his first two league matches, but only went on to score once more in the top-flight across the course of the campaign.

It seems that he did not impress sufficiently to warrant a permanent contract as he has now returned to his parent club, and it appears that Villa feel that Smith Rowe could offer more from the No. 10 position next year so they are trying all they can to land the England Under-21 international.

How important is it that Arsenal keep hold of Smith Rowe?

Hugely important.

Arsenal are set to start next season without European football for the first time this century after a disappointing year this term which saw them finish down in eighth place.

Arguably the only positive of their season was the emergence of some of their young players such as Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka.

The latter shone on the international stage on Tuesday night as he won Star of the Match for England in their win over Czech Republic at the Euros. 

Smith Rowe is also following in Saka's footsteps, having delivered six league goal contributions since his first appearance of the season back in December.

These two players need to be a major part of Arsenal's future if the club are going to start progressing up the table soon, and that is why the Gunners must tie Smith Rowe down to a new long-term contract as quickly as possible.