The versatile 19 year old versatile winger has been a regular in the Arsenal reserves but has had a bad time with injuries in the last couple of seasons. He got injured in February 2004 and only returned just in time to play in last season's excellent league cup wins. But in the last, against Everton, he suffered another career-threatening injury, to his cruciate ligament. Impressively, he recovered in time to get back to his best for the reserves by the end of the season. He has also represented England at U19 level.

Smith is considered to be one of the brightest prospects amongst our youngsters, and only last week Arsene Wenger was singing his praises : "He has so many ingredients that you love to have when you're a young player and I am confident he will be a big success. He's creative, he's quick, he can score goals, he's left-footed as well, and he's a great crosser of the ball."

Foxes boss Craig Levein echoes those sentiments: "Ryan is a young player with bags of potential who needs first team experience. He is a winger who can play on either side with plenty of pace and ability and I am sure he will excite the Leicester supporters".

As always, a loan like this could well be the prelude to a move. But it's also probably his best chance of getting to the point where he's given the chance to break into the Arsenal first team. Apparently, the loan deal will initially be just till the end of this year, with the possibility of a further extension till the end of the season. Leicester have not had the best of starts to their Championship season, with only 11 points from 11 games. They're hoping that Smith will arrive in time to play against Derby County on Saturday.

According to the BBC, Smith will not be allowed to play in the League Cup. It's not clear where they get this from. It is in contrast with the Justin Hoyte situation, where he will not only be allowed to play in the cup, but he'll be playing against Arsenal. Perhaps the difference is that Hoyte's arrangement is already for the season. It does suggest that Arsenal will be considering bringing Smith back in the new year, and no doubt some rumour-mongers will see this as proof that Robert Pires will be leaving in the transfer window!