Will Arsenal have to wait it out until the summer to sign a new striker after recent developments with Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins, for whom they submitted a formal bid recently?
As per reports, Watkins picked up a muscular injury in Villa’s 2-0 defeat to Wolves in their last Premier League match and was subbed off at half-time. Speaking after the game, Emery sounded quite downbeat when asked about the condition of his top marksman. The Spaniard said: “I changed him because he was feeling a pain in his muscle. Tomorrow we will test him.”\
Muscular issues are always a worry as they can leave a sidelined for anywhere between a couple of weeks to several months as they take time to heal. The Gunners will be well aware of this, having missed their own star player Bukayo Saka through a hamstring injury suffered in December.
Despite Watkins’ superb fitness and track record of returning from injuries in good form, it seems that Arsenal will ease off their interest in the 29-year-old and will look elsewhere for a striker.
Arsenal to avoid Kim Kallstrom mishap from 2014
Rewind to January 2014. Arsene Wenger is still in-charge at the Emirates Stadium as the club are in second place behind Manchester City in the Premier League table. The squad is running short, as usual, and Monsieur Wenger has entered the market for reinforcements to help with the season run-in.
Enter: Kim Kallstrom. The Spartak Moscow midfielder emerged as a target for the Gunners late in the January transfer window in 2014. The catch was that he had a back injury which Arsenal discovered during the medical, but the club went ahead with the move anyway and also helped Kallstrom with rehabilitation for the injury.
This gesture was one of the grandest and nicest things a football club could do for a player, and was a highlight of Wenger’s magnanimous attitude throughout his tenure in north London. However, the loan move was a pure disaster in footballing terms. Kim Kallstrom managed just 138 minutes across four appearances for Arsenal.
The club have not signed an injured player since!
