Emile Smith Rowe has revealed that he was 'pretty surprised' by Eddie Nketiah's lack of game-time at Leeds United.

The Arsenal striker spent the first half of the season on loan with Marcelo Bielsa's side where he was tipped to be a roaring success in the club's push for promotion.

However, things didn't quite work out like the young frontman had planned.

Nketiah struggled to dislodge Patrick Bamford as the club's first choice attacker and while he still managed to show his goalscoring talents from the bench with five goals, it wasn't enough to keep him at Elland Road for the full season.

But that hasn't stopped the 20-year-old who has scored three times for Arsenal's first team since returning to North London - something which isn't a surprise to fellow academy graduate Smith Rowe.

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, the Huddersfield Town loanee said: “Eddie’s been scoring a lot, to be fair.

“He’s a striker and he’s always scoring goals. I’m close to him so I messaged him saying well done and stuff so hopefully he can carry on doing it for Arsenal.”

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Asked if he was surprised that it didn’t work out with Leeds United, Smith Rowe said: “I was pretty surprised to see that he wasn’t starting as many games as he wanted to.

“Everyone knows how good Eddie is and even when he wasn’t starting he was coming on, scoring, and showing what he can do.

“I’m happy that he's come back to Arsenal and he’s scoring goals.”