Mikel Arteta provides update on Emile Smith Rowe's Arsenal future amid links with Fulham after he failed to feature in the Gunners' 1-1 pre-season draw with Bournemouth

Mikel Arteta has hinted that an Emile Smith Rowe exit is imminent amid reports linking him to Fulham.

It was reported earlier today that Fulham are close to reaching an agreement for the attacking midfielder for a fee around £30million.

The 23-year-old didn’t feature in Arsenal’s 1-1 with Bournemouth in Los Angeles despite every outfield player having been substituted in the match.

On Smith Rowe’s future, Arteta said: ‘Yeah there are things happening in the background at the moment. We decided the best thing to do was to keep him away from the game today.’

The Spaniard fielded a team full of youngsters against Bournemouth and was enthusiastic about their display.

Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri were among the academy players who started and shone.

He said: ‘Very pleased. We have a very different context today with so many young players – most of them making their debuts for us.

‘Really pleased to see them, just looking at their faces and the energy and understanding that they were going to be involved was great.

‘And I think the senior players had a good game. It was a really competitive match against Bournemouth as we expected.

‘They are a little bit ahead of us in terms of the time that they had to prepare. Good competitive match, with a lot of things to take forward.’