The Daily Telegraph’s Jason Burt has conducted a terrific interview with Emile Smith Rowe. There are reflections on how much of a wrench it was to leave Arsenal after his route to regular football had been blocked by the Gunners’ growth under Mikel Arteta. But the most telling insights into the man who could take Fulham to the next level if it all clicks at Craven Cottage. For a somewhat reticent speaker, Smith Rowe paints a picture almost as pretty as some of the passes he’s already sprayed to his new team-mates this season.
Take this for starters on how the quiet man transforms when he steps over the white line.
“I kind of just turn into a monster. I just try to let it all out. I just try to put in as good a performance as I can. I try to play every game as if it is my last. I just try to give everything for the team. That’s important. I am so relaxed and reserved my energy builds up. So, when the game comes I am ready to release it all.”
You feel the joy as he talks about the feeling that followed his first Fulham goal – fabulously taken in August at the Putney End against Leicester City.
“It was a relief. Just because I haven’t had a feeling like in a long time. It’s hard to explain the feeling. Just knowing that you have scored the goal and everyone is looking at you. I have really missed that feeling. It’s literally addictive. You want to know what it’s like tomorrow and the next day,”
Smith Rowe’s sentences about Silva are especially revealing.
” I spoke to him in the summer and we had a really good conversation about the opportunities I would get, where I would be playing and the freedom to express myself. That really sucked me into the project. He is very intense. Very detailed in what he wants and what he does so I’m really happy with the training and the games and the tactics. It’s been amazing and learning stuff. I have been with one manager for a long time so coming out of my comfort zone and seeing a different environment and learning new things.”
There’s much more but the interviews with a burst of positivity about Smith Rowe’s new surroundings that should put a spring in every Fulham fan’s step.
“I can’t really speak highly enough of everything around me: the club, all the staff. I am really happy. There’s a massive smile on my face.”
Life at London’s oldest football club feels good.
