Emile Smith-Rowe has already made his transfer decision amid Aston Villa speculation

Aston Villa have been repeatedly linked with Arsenal winger Emile Smith-Rowe but the player has made his priorities clear ahead of the rest of the summer transfer window.

Now 22 years of age, the England youth international didn’t score a single goal for the Gunners in any competition last term but much of that was down to injury setbacks.

There’s definitely some potential there as the season before that saw Smith-Rowe net 10 times in 33 Premier League appearances, many of which were off the bench.

Villa have long been linked with making a move for the Gunners forward and speculation has racked up at the start of the transfer season, but Smith-Rowe has already made up his mind.

“Arsenal are my club and I’m not going to give up until [Mikel Arteta] says he doesn’t want me,” Smith-Rowe told The Times. “But that’s not the case. He wants me as part of the team.

“It was tough [not playing] but we were in a title race and I understand the manager isn’t going to change the team if we’re winning. I just tried to stay positive and train as well as I could.

“The other players and Mikel were great with me and kept me feeling connected. But it was a tough, long season. I want to fight for my place and get back in the team,” Smith-Rowe added.

It would take quite some convincing, then, if the Villans did want to make the winger their first marquee signing under Unai Emery but the project under the new manager could be tempting.

If the player does indeed get the go-ahead to leave the Emirates Stadium, he would be open to new challenges. At the moment, the problem for Villa is Arteta wants to keep hold of his man.