Arsenal winger Theo Walcott has stated that he is likely to miss the start of the next season after failing to recover as expected from the injury he sustained while playing against Tottenham a few months ago. Walcott has been a major miss for Arsenal in the last few months, as he was stretchered off in the 2-0 win over Tottenham in the FA Cup. Arsenal have since managed to reach the final of the competition where they will be playing against Hull City. Walcott was recently seen on the Arsenal pitch during the end of season lap of honour.
He has been left out of the England squad for the World Cup 2014, which is a major suggestion that he is nowhere near enough to be playing first-team football. It was heavily expected that the 25-year-old will return to action in time for the start of the pre-season. Now, he has hinted that it may be a while before he returns back to the field. The anterior cruciate ligament injury takes a long time to heal, while players have previously failed to reach the best after this injury. Walcott will be hoping that this isn’t the case since he has been producing some of his best football in the last two years.
“I want to be back quickly, of course – but safely, too. I want to try and be back for the early part of next season. That is the goal, so there will be a lot of hard work throughout the summer and during the World Cup. It has nearly been four months now, and my recovery has been on track so far. At the moment I’m working on muscle strength and building muscle in my quad. I don’t see any point in being down in the dumps about the injury because it has already happened,” said Walcott.
