Mikel Arteta has revealed the levels he believes Emile Smith Rowe can reach at Arsenal.
The 20-year-old has started the Gunners' last three games in the Premier League helping them to win each one with two assists.
He has been earmarked as a player with considerable talent for some time now having been part of the England team that won the Under-17 World Cup alongside Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho.
Smith Rowe has yet to reach the levels either of those two, but speaking ahead of his side's FA Cup third round clash with Newcastle, Mikel Arteta revealed he believes the midfielder has the potential to do so.
"I don't know. He has a huge potential," said the Spaniard when asked if the 20-year-old could reach the level of his former England teammates.
"He really wants it and he has the personality when he goes on that field to express and play the way he can play. To do it in a consistent way is a different thing.
"The boys that you have mentioned, it's true, they've done it. They are ahead of him in their development phase because they've played many more minutes and games in the last two seasons.
"But he's capable of doing that. Whether he's going to do it will depend on how he continues to develop, how he takes the chance that he has in front of him and then how much we can help him to achieve that."
To reach his potential though Arteta later went on to add that he feels Smith Rowe needs to have more belief in his own abilities.
"Well, he was out for a long period with a shoulder injury. He came back in pre-season he looked really good and then he got injured," he said.
"So a lot of things have happened to him in the last year. Again he needs to establish here, he needs to be settled here, he needs to really find his role in the team and at the club. And that will help him to have a clear path of the direction that we want to take with him.
"He needs to have trust in him because we really believe in him. And go forward, and no fear, and go for it, because he has the quality to do it."
The Arsenal boss also opened up on why he took the decision to throw Smith Rowe in for only his second ever Premier League start in the 3-1 victory over Chelsea on Boxing Day.
"You have question marks of course because he hasn't done it at that level and that calibre of game," he said.
"But you see the potential and I really liked it, and we really liked as a coaching staff what we were seeing so we decided to make a decision and it worked.
"And then he earned the right to play the next game, he didn't again, and he earned the right to play the following game as well. I think we have to go game by game in general. I think with individuals and young talents even more."
