I felt really sorry for the Arsenal and England international star Theo Walcott when it was revealed last week that the groin problem the forward had picked up on the last international break while training with Roy Hodgson’s squad, may force the unlucky Gunner to undergo yet another operation.
Having had abdominal surgery and then the anterior cruciate ligament treatment that wrecked his campaign last time, this would have been a massive blow to the 25-year old speedster, but it would have been equally bad news for Arsenal fans and Arsene Wenger, as the season before had seen Walcott really come into his own and finish the season as the top scorer in the Arsenal squad.
The medical staff at the Emirates were therefore sweating on the results of some intense treatment given to Walcott last week, to see if it had worked and avoided the need for the player to have another operation and another long spell on the sidelines.
The manager has now given us the good news in an Arsenal.com report that Theo does not have to go under the knife again. All he needs now is to continue to work on his fitness and then Wenger can start to introduce him back into the team slowly to get that match sharpness back.
The Frenchman said, “The signs are quite good. He has had two days of training now but he now lacks competition and fitness to come back to a good level.”
As we saw before Walcott picked up the groin problem, Wenger is going to be very careful with his striker and so we probably won’t see him fully back and able to start a game for a good few weeks yet. But hopefully Theo will be ready to explode for Arsenal in the second half of the season. How good will that be for us, Gooners?