Crystal Palace manager Pierre Sage has said former Arsenal pair Eddie Nketiah and Emile Smith Rowe have not realised their potential, suggesting both players still have a gap to close between their talent and their performances.
Nketiah and Smith Rowe both came through the ranks at the Emirates and were given opportunities during Mikel Arteta's tenure. Both showed considerable promise as teenagers, with hopes that they would become regulars for the Gunners. However, a lack of consistency and the club's significant spending on players in their positions limited their development, eventually leading to their departures from north London.
Sage on Nketiah and Smith Rowe
Nketiah, who scored 38 times for Arsenal, moved to Palace in 2024 but has not established himself as a regular with the Eagles. Smith Rowe joined Fulham in the same summer in search of more minutes. Sage, speaking after Nketiah scored the winner in Palace's Carabao Cup victory over Fulham, said: "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]."
He added: "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." Sage also referenced Smith Rowe, saying: "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."
Arteta's admission on Smith Rowe
Both players 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, with Arteta admitting the striker "wanted and needed to play more minutes". Smith Rowe, who scored 11 times in his best year at Arsenal as Arteta recovered from a difficult start, gradually fell down the pecking order as players such as Martin Odegaard were signed in his position.
Arteta previously confessed some responsibility for not getting the best out of Smith Rowe before his departure, saying: "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."
