Archive for July 27th, 2011

Squad continues to thin as injuries commence

100 comments July 27th, 2011

You know the season is well on the way when Arsenal start picking up injuries.  A squad which is already braced for several departures in the next month has been hit by a couple of injury blows.

The first bad news is that of a cruciate ligament problem for 19-year old Conor Henderson.  The Irish midfielder was filling in at left-back against Cologne when he twisted his knee in the final seconds.  Arsenal.com say he’ll miss “a minimum of six months” – the player himself has already written the season off on his official Twitter account.  It’s a shame as the very fact he was in Germany was indicative of how highly Arsene rates him.  Hopefully he can follow the lead of Emmanuel Frimpong, who suffered a similar injury only to fight back in to first-team contention a year later.

Theo Walcott also returned home early from the German training camp with an ankle problem.  Arsene said:

“It is an ankle injury that comes and goes. We need some more investigation because sometimes he’s completely free of it and sometimes it affects him. But we had to send him back because he couldn’t practise any more.”

Whilst it doesn’t sound like a serious problem, any recurring injury is a bit of a worry, and without wanting to panic anyone it sounds like the sort of thing that might require surgery to resolve.  However, I’m sure Arsene will want Theo fit at the start of the season, so any major treatment will doubtless be put off now.

If Theo does miss the opening games, Arsene could be reliant on Russian forward Andrey Arshavin, who has targeted 15 goals for next season.  Although the player has been heavily linked with Galatasaray, I can’t see him being allowed to depart at a time when the futures of fellow playmakers Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri are in so much doubt.  Arshavin has looked sharped in pre-season and could be an important senior member of the squad in 2011/12.

Another player heavily linked with Galatasaray was Ivorian full-back Emmanuel Eboue.  However, the latest news from the Turkish media suggest his move may be off after Arsenal raised their valuation of the player to £7m.  That seems an improbably high price, so at this stage it could just be media tittle-tattle.

One man who is definitely loping towards the door is Nicklas Bendtner, whose Dad suggests he is inundated with offers.  Personally, I don’t care he goes so long as we get a decent fee – one that is reinvested in the squad.

Reinvested, perhaps, in one Juan Mata.  Valencia and Spain’s attacking midfielder has been consistently linked with Arsenal throughout the summer, and with the Cesc Fabregas saga coming to a head, Madrid-based daily Marca have suggested we’ve gone as far as to meet the buyout clause in his contract.

Mata would certainly meet a lot of the criteria for replacing either Cesc or Nasri, but for now let’s take these stories with a pinch of salt. So many times in the past we’ve questioned the authenticity or motives of Marca when printing stories about our players – this very morning they also ran a story suggesting Cesc is on “strike”, which simply isn’t true.

Finally, raise your mug of tea because Gunnerblog is seven years old today.  Thanks to all who have read, through its many incarnations.  Lets hope we can make this year the best of all.  Any maybe have a trophy too.


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