Danny Welbeck’s Arsenal Career Suffers Another Serious Blow

Danny Welbeck’s Arsenal Career Suffers Another Serious Blow

Apparently Arsene Wenger is not lucky when it comes to signing some players – remember the loan signing of Swedish midfielder Kim Kallstrom and how that played out. While Welbeck’s talent was a sure thing, his physical integrity was not as he had suffered from Osgood-Schlatter disease in his youth which is a condition which affects young sporting types who actually play TOO much sports. Usually a strict regime of rest, stretching and specific strengthening exercises along with over the counter medication can solve the condition and it seems former club Manchester United managed the young striker correctly as he did make a solid recovery from the so-called disease.

Unfortunately, despite being just 25 and only signing with Arsenal in 2014, his immediate future at the Emirates is on hold. According to Arsenal’s Official Club Statement: “Danny Welbeck has had surgery to his right knee. Specialists determined surgery was required after scans and tests revealed significant cartilage damage. The 25-year-old was injured during Sunday’s match at Manchester City. Danny will miss the Euro 2016 Championship in the summer and his full recovery is expected to take approximately nine months.”


Looking at his past injuries, you can see that his knees are a big, big problem. Over 60% of his time spent on the sidelines was due to knee problems which are the hardest to recover from. Seeing what happened with Wilshere this year, we can suggest that March 2017 will be a month in which Welbeck plays for the U21 team and undergoes light training sessions. Just as with Wilshere and Cazorla, recovery set for February can often mean a maximum of 3-4 games to be played before the end of May barring any set-backs.

Arsenal may now be forced to buy a new striker as Giroud is the only real option for the no. 9 role at the moment. Wenger will have the option of using Sanogo and Akpom who will be returning from loan at the end of the month but it is hard to believe either of the two will be the answer and Walcott while talented just has not panned out as a striker so far with only 12 goals so far in another injury hit campaign. Akpom scored 7 times in his last 40 games and Sanogo scored 3 goals in an entire season so it seems Arsene Wenger will be forced to bring in a new striker to the Emirates which is such a shame given the form Welbeck had shown since his return. If Wenger does not want to make a big money, long-term signing as you would expect then Ibrahimovic could be the answer if he can be convinced to come to North London – we shall see but for now we wish Danny Welbeck the speediest recovery possible.