Chelsea’s move for Emile Smith Rowe is off after they agreed a deal for Cole Palmer, but the Arsenal midfielder didn’t want the transfer anyway.

Fabrizio Romano reports that there are no concrete negotiations ongoing between Chelsea and Arsenal for Emile Smith Rowe.

Chelsea have agreed to sign Cole Palmer from Manchester City, and they now have all the signings they wanted in offensive areas. Smith Rowe was never close to joining, and Arsenal still consider him to be part of their project.

The Daily Mail write that Arsenal immediately knocked back Chelsea’s enquiry for Smith Rowe, with the Blues then moving on to Palmer.

As for Smith Rowe himself, Sami Mokbel reports that the player would have concerns about going to Chelsea anyway.

And why wouldn’t he? This is a team that finished 12th last season, who sit 10th currently, and scraped past AFC Wimbledon on Wednesday.

Chelsea have no European football this season and strong competition to make it back into Europe for 2024/25.

They’ve signed player after player with no apparent plan, giving no time for new signings to adapt before moving on and replacing them with another.

As a boyhood Arsenal fan, moving to Chelsea would also mean cutting ties with the club Smith Rowe supports to join a rival.

Joining Chelsea is a risky move for a player’s development, it’s not a particularly appealing move in terms of team success right now, and it involves going against Smith Rowe’s personal club preferences.

So it’s not surprising Smith Rowe had concerns. Fortunately for him, Arsenal didn’t want to sell, and Chelsea are no longer pursuing the move.