Arsenal wonderkid Emile Smith Rowe could be as good as Cristiano Ronaldo in the future.
That is the view of Gunners legend Martin Keown who made the bold claim as the 20-year-old was preparing to be replaced in the first-half against Leicester City.
The 20-year-old was restored to his favoured attacking midfield role at the King Power Stadium after a run of games against Leeds United and Benfica out on the left-wing.
And as Arsenal got back on level terms against the Foxes, the mood was somewhat tempered when Smith Rowe suffered an injury and needed to come off after 42 minutes.
In his place was the on-loan Martin Odegaard.
As the Norway international made his way on to the pitch, it was pointed out by the BT Sport commentator that the midfielder once made his Real Madrid debut as a substitute for Ronaldo.
This prompted Keown to make a massive prediction about Smith Rowe possibly being as good as Ronaldo in the future.
"Isn’t that good yet, but he might be in the future," he said.
Whilst reaching the levels that Ronaldo has managed to set at Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus as well as Portugal will no doubt be a tough ask, Keown's comments suggest Mikel Arteta can develop Arsenal's own superstar.
As mentioned above, the sight of Smith Rowe walking down the tunnel in the first-half after suffering an injury was the one downside from the 3-1 win.
David Luiz's equaliser was followed up by Alexandre Lacazette's penalty before the break and Nicolas Pepe capped off an impressive performance with a goal in the second half.
Next up for the Gunners is a trip to Burnley and it remains to be seen if Smith Rowe will be available for selection at Turf Moor.
