The Arsenal and England international star Danny Welbeck must be feeling pretty rotten right about now, and not just because of the pain he will be in after undergoing an operation. As reported by Arsenal.com today the prognosis is that Welbeck will be out of action for about nine months and that means that he is set to miss most, if not all, of another season for his new club.
He is also set to miss the Euro 2016 tournament in which he was sure to feature heavily under Roy Hodgson after coming back with a bang with Arsenal recently. That comeback was after a seemingly minor injury problem kept getting worse and left him on the sidelines for around a year, so you can only imagine his immense frustration right now.
As bad as this news is for the player, though, the bigger picture is what it will mean to Arsenal and our chances of major trophy success next season and I have to imagine it will not help. Some Arsenal fans are hoping that Welbeckâs surgery will force Arsene Wenger into the transfer market but I am not so sure.
It was not Welbeck that the boss was looking to replace anyway and knowing Wenger he will keep in mind that the England striker should be back in nine months. I have a feeling that, just like in the game against Aston Villa on Sunday, Wenger will ask Giroud to fill in for Welbeck and we saw how the demands of being our only real centre forward affected the big man this year.
I do think that Wenger will sign a striker this summer but I also think it will be a replacement for Theo Walcott and not cover for Welbeck. Perhaps this injury news will affect the the thoughts of the Frenchman on which forward to sign though and that could be good news for Arsenal fans.
However, do you agree that this operation on our striker will only hurt Arsenal and our hopes for next season?