Another promising Arsenal player is out for next season already!

The Arsenal midfielder Gedion Zelalem has been amongst the first team squad for some time now, but has unfortunately never really been able to make his way into the match day squad. The American is a regular amongst the Arsenal youth teams and has been very promising in his quality whist at the club. A loan spell at Scottish giants Rangers also proved his potential, but he still seems no closer to making another appearance with the Arsenal first team.

Zelalem broke onto the scene as a mere teen and it may surprise you to learn he is still only 20 years old. However after a few years of not progressing any higher than the former level, time is not on Zelalem’s side to remain with Arsenal.

The 20 year old is in real danger of falling further down the pecking order at Arsenal, especially with the introduction of more first team signings and youth players such as Jeff Reine Adelaide overtaking him. Furthermore he’s now been dealt a big blow that could mean his chances at Arsenal may be effectively over, with the midfielder having suffered an injury that will rule him out for the majority of next season.

Whilst on international duty with the USA under 20 squad at the Under20 World Cup in South Korea, Zelalem was hauled off the pitch after 34 minutes. He picked up a nasty injury with scans later revealing he had sustained a Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL). The ACL injury is likely to keep him sidelined for at least the next 9 months and so although he would have likely had a 3 month summer break from football anyway, Zelalem will still not return until around March 2018 unless his recovery is quicker than usual.

A return date of March 2018 means that he is unlikely to be sent out on loan after his return next season and he will of course be no closer to a bit of first team action at Arsenal. At 21 years old, he could suffer the same fate as so many Arsenal youngsters before him, of having so much promise, but being unable to fulfil their expectations.

By AH

7 Comments

  1. I hope Zelalem recovers well next season.
    This season its been a much better injury record for Arsenal. Cazorla and Mertesaker are the only long term injury we had but sadly the results have been much worse than ever. We have missed the creativity of Cazorla and his expreience badly. Ramsey is better playing more advanced role. Xhaka is in his first season so, hopefully he improves next season. Coquelin has performed poorly since returning from injury. Elneny doesn’t get chance at all. Xhaka and Couelin both perform well when Cazorla is there. We need a quality CM and world class striker at any cost.
    I want Kroenke gone but if he stays he should make the right decision and release Wenger.
    Wenger will struggle to get 4th from now on because he has zero tactics and other teams are getting stronger. Man U, Chelsea and City are 1000 times stronger with their spending power.
    Spurs and Liverpool will also strengthen the team. If we get a right manager and is given 150 m we can easily compete with them and win trophies and also make big profit. Wenger’s policy has been a failure overpaying players like Theo, Mertesaker, Giroud, who all make over 100 k pw closer to Ozil and Alexis salary which is a joke. Allegri can sign 4 world class players and will offload those players. We can easily afford to pay world class players 250k pw salary.

    1. Oh please.. our wage bill is fine at the moment. We’ve cleared out Arteta, Rosicky, Flamini and Diaby who weren’t contributing as much. Debuchy soon to follow. Pretty much all our dead weight is gone. Mertesacker is not on 100k. The issue with Giroud and Theo is not that they’re in the squad, it’s that we need a better option in front of them.

  2. Feel bad for the kid.. Not bad for Arsenal though. Plenty of midfield prospects who have a lot more to their game. Ainsley and Iwobi are far more first-team ready at a similar age.

  3. I read on BBC that less than 1%
    of academy players end up
    playing Premier league.
    4 years ago Wenger said “16 year old Zelalem is going to be world class”
    I followed the lads progress since then but sadly he simply has not improved.
    He looked alright when Rangers were in the Scottish third tier
    but now they are back in the SPL Zelalem has faded from view.
    He is one of the 99% I’m afraid.

  4. The young lad has still got much in him to offer Arsenal Fc. It’s only poor decision making at Arsenal that keeps fading the potential of our young prospects. Let’s wait for Zelalem to recover, give him a few substitute appearance to the team, rather than keep sending him out on loan.

    Take for instance the case of Joel Campbell. The lad was sent on loan for almost five good years, with Wenger opting to purchase the likes of Gervinho, Sanogo and Park Chu Yong, yet the talented Costa Rican is until now, more useful and efficient that all of them.

    My point in the above argument is that, one season loan stint or a maximum of two, is enough for our boys. After that, they can be given sporadic appearances to the team. We lost the likes of Gnabry, Bischoff, Miyaichi, Hayden and may lose Beilik, Campbell, Zelalem, Crowley, Akpom, Jon Toral, Pleguezuelo among many others in a similar fashion.

    I STAND WITH ZELALEM!

  5. I feel sorry for the lad and wish him quick recovery.
    Arsene or whoever would be in charge should be given good amount of money to strengthen the squad because our poor play and inability to put matches to bed before the 70mins mark is partly to blame for the stunted development of our youth players.
    If we improve the quality of the squad and the lead our opponents with 3goals on regular basis, the academy players can be introduced more frequently in the epl thereby aiding their development.
    Spend on quality players!

Comments are closed

Top Blog Sponsors