I agreed with you. Just saying a part of the process in rehab is gaining more strength prior to the injury.
Back in England for second-phase rehab after last surgery in the USA: http://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/players/gedion-zelalem-injury-arsenal-news-13606266 Exclusive: Arsenal midfielder returns to London Colney after horror injury There were hopes initially that the problem was not too serious, but scans revealed the true extent of the injury and Zelalem was ruled out for up to nine months. The Arsenal youngster began his recovery process in the United States where he underwent several operations on the knee.[...] At present the 20-year-old has not given up hope of playing before the end of the campaign, although realistically he may have to wait until the summer to return to full fitness. And with his Arsenal deal set to expire in 2018, his career at the Emirates is hanging in the balance. ---- So he won't be fit to play again until his contract expires, and with less than nine months left, there's been no talk of an extension.
His Arsenal career was over before he got hurt. The best outcome he can have this season is to get on the field in the PL2 come March or April, show that he's not permanently damaged, and find a club willing to take a chance on him next season.
When healthy he's too good for Arsenal. Hopefully he can prove himself and latch on to a mid table team with aspiration. He might never win an FA Cup, sure, but maybe he can play in the CL again.
Too good for Arsenal? Damn..maybe i saw him play differently than you did. Nothing at Rangers, Arsenal reserves, Arsenal preseason, and especially VVV showes he's anywhere close to "too good for Arsenal".
It's not really clear he won't be healthy until summer, but either way, even if he does manage a few U games in Apr, he's unlikely to ever feature for Arsenal unless he gets an extension.
You were only a backup because you had an idiot Europhile coach who played you out of of your natural position in an active (and successful!) bid to sabotage your professional career.......
To be fair it wasnot the smartest choice to land him for 6 months at VVV, that had a full swinging team heading to win the title/direct promotion without the need for replacements/upgrades. So I wouldnot hold those months against him.
I was just thinking about him the other day and what happened to him. Completely forgot that it was a ACL. Unfortunate injury at an unfortunate time. I see a Gyau like career in his future. Hope I'm wrong.
Gyau looks like he's still got his physical tools, and is doing fine: 7 starts from 7 league games, went 90' every time, with one goal and 2 assists. That's quite good for a LW on a team that's top-heavy with youngsters whose careers didn't quite take off (it looks like the clubs owner, who is a German super-agent, is running the club as a reclamation yard). Keep it up (5-6 goals and 10 assists) and he could wind up in BL2 next season.
GZ is and always has been an enigma, and now he is an enigma with a history of a bad knee injury. He's got MLS Designated Player Bradley money written all over him now. He's a lock. In all honesty, I just don't think his game fits the EPL, die Bundesliga, or La Liga. While an off the wall thought, with all the space and time on the ball, Liga MX might be the place for his game.
My view in Zelalem is that he's a very talented and skilled player, but there's a weird gap between his soccer skills and his ability to use his soccer skills to make productive things happen on the field. He doesn't have the defensive skills to be one of those 100% passing accuracy, tempo-setting DMs. He doesn't have the vision and is generally too passive to be a midfielder who unlocks defenses. He doesn't seem to have the work rate to be a box-to-box all-rounder. He's a smooth passer with wonderful technique. I hope he develops his game in some other way that will allow him to get on the field more at a higher level and the make the most out of his strengths.
Pin this paragraph. Coaches want players who make things happen in games. Skill, ability, "great in training", etc. None of them matter if you don't make a difference at 3 pm on a Saturday. Julian Green is busy finding that out right now. Let's hope Gideon can get healthy and hits the ground running when he does. If he does, I think a one-year extension with a loan remains in the cards. But if he doesn't become a difference-maker, and fast, from August it's a life in the lower divisions or the lesser leagues after that.
When you watch him play, you notice how the momentum his team has dies when he gets the ball. He does have the vision on occasion, he can thread some nice passes, and he can track back like a proper CM. The defect that, IMO, defines Zelalem, is that he thinks everything for a second too long. In a game where the difference between a crucial pass and a turnover is 0.2 of a second, that extra second kills everything.
Watching him play in the U20 vs. Ecuador, with Rangers, and a few of the Venlo games (which I could only get in streams).
I get what @Suyuntuy says but I have a different explanation. When I look at his play I start to see Xavi. A lot of that lateral dribbling looking for linking. But where it falls apart is that Xavi will see a possible run and maneuver the situation so the player makes a run but if it doesn't happen or the opposition catches on he just turns around and looks elsewhere. Gedion seems to see the play and then just stares at the spot where it should have happened and waits for that run for way too long. An argument could be made that he needs to play with more tactically advanced partners but he has a serious lack of flexibility or adaptability which ever way you shake it.
He has no shot, is a slow thinker, and was not very athletic even pre injury. I was very high on him after his Rangers loan, even though he finished poorly, because his incisive, skilled passing and close quarters control looked to be enough on its own to eventually earn him a spot on the UMSNT and probably on a mid or lower tier EPL side (insert Arsenal joke here...). But, then he had the lost season last year topped off with a torn ACL. Bummer. I have zero expectations for him. At this point I wouldn't be shocked if he's out of pro soccer at 25. He seems to have a middling approach to training (compare the transformation of Pulisic's body to Zelalem's at the same age) and a torn ACL, while not the death knell it used to be, is a major setback and potentially sets him up for more knee trouble down the road. That said, I hope the kid turns it around, proves me wrong, and helps the UMSNT win games down the road.