Danny Welbeck’s return to first-team action will be ‘slow’ and ‘gradual’ according to Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.
The former Manchester United striker impressed in the early stages of his tenure with the Gunners, but picked up a knee injury in April which later led to surgery, meaning he has not played a single minute of football for over half a year.
Having recently returned to training, anticipation regarding when he will feature again for the first-team has begun to build, as Arsenal bid to win their first Premier League title in over 10 seasons.
Wenger, however, as reported by the club’s official website, claimed that Welbeck would have to undergo a ‘gradual’ return to action, with him clearly not match fit.
It has to be gradual; he has to go through an under-21 game first.
Danny has not played since April 2015 and we are now in February basically, so that is very long for a top-level competitor.
You have to accept that he goes through small steps and one of them is to play in the under-21s, first for 45 minutes.
He is basically fit but now it is to absorb the competition and the intensity of the competition. That is the next step for him.
The Frenchman also claimed that Francis Coquelin, who returned to training two weeks ago, is available to feature.
I will make some changes, not many.
We spoke about Elneny, maybe I will give him a chance to play. Coquelin I have to think about. I will play with a team that is a Premier League team.
Coquelin gives us defensive stability in midfield so he will compete with the players we have in this area. Before he was injured he had a very good spell in the team and the results were good, including his defensive records. He is now in a position where he can compete again for his position.
Arsenal face Burnley this weekend and Tomas Rosicky, Coquelin and Mohamed Elneny could all return to action against Burnley, with the Egyptian midfielder set for his debut after joining the club earlier this month.
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