Emile Smith Rowe became Fulham’s “main target” once Arsenal confirmed they were willing to sell him, Marco Silva has revealed.
The 24-year-old ended his 14-year association with Arsenal this summer when he joined Fulham for a club-record fee of up to £34million.
Smith Rowe has hit the ground running, netting in pre-season and scoring in Fulham’s 2-1 league win over Leicester on Saturday.
“He is a rare player”, the Fulham boss said yesterday. “We were in the market for a player with his profile; we wanted someone that can play there between the lines, can give us a little bit more creativity in that space, a player that can arrive in the box. He has the capacity to do it.
“We defined him as the main target for that position when we felt Arsenal was opening to selling him. We worked hard to get him in. His technical quality and creativity is what we need from a player in that decision.”
Silva added: “He knows he has to improve many things, in terms of the [pace] of the Premier League. He has to be ready to play 80, 90, 100 minutes at the same intensity. He has to do off the ball the hard work that the Premier League demands.
“When the player has quality and the right mindset to learn, it’s just a matter of time. He’s going to improve in all aspects.”
Silva, whose side visit Birmingham in the Carabao Cup second round tonight, is keen to share the burden of responsibility among his attacking players this season.
“I don’t like to individualise on just him”, he said. “It’s not fair to put all this pressure on one player, just because he came from Arsenal and spent a good amount of money on him. We should share the responsibility.
“He’s a very good boy. He’s a little bit quiet and shy — probably too quiet — but he’s already settled at our football club. Even if he’s not the most loud guy, I just want him not to be quiet on the pitch.”
