Arsenal may look to their youth to provide depth in wake of Walcott injury. Scott Heavey/Getty Images
Arsenal boss Arsène Wenger has shown little interest in bringing help during the winter transfer window. Disappointing news for Gunner fans that have seen the majority of their frontline fall to injury over the first half of the season.
Speculation will run rampant regardless, with names like Jackson Martinez of FC Porto (who is openly talking about a transfer to North London) and Aston Villa’s Christian Benteke (who has long been coveted by Arsenal’s French boss) being bandied about. But Arsenal spent big in the first window earlier this season, bringing in Real Madrid midfielder Mesut Özil, who has helped transform the club into one of the Premier League’s best, so they may have to look within the organization for help on the front line until several key players return to form.
18-year-old Serge Gnabry has a game very complementary to that of Theo Walcott, the Arsenal star who just tore his ACL and will miss the remainder of the season. The two seemed to play well off one another, so it’s a disappointing blow for Arsenal. But Gnabry, who has only nine appearances for Arsenal this season, is now hoping for a chance to prove his worth in 2014 for the Gunners with more first-team appearances. “I hope that I can show what I can do and that the team could need me, from then it is up to the manager,” said Gnabry after Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Tottenham in the third round of the FA Cup. Gnabry might help bring in some much-needed firepower to relieve Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey, the Gunner’s top scoring options, who will need to be given proper rest in the second half after being played to the point of exhaustion to keep the Gunner’s atop the table.
Walcott’s injury, along with that of Nicklas Bendtner, who will miss all of January, further hampers the North London club’s depth. But they could further open doors for youngsters like Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who himself has missed all of the season recovering from a knee injury suffered on opening day. His availability for Arsenal was made known the day the extent of Walcott’s injury was revealed — providing the team with some hope of staying in the top spot. The 20-year-old might be in line for his first real steady stint with the top-flight club after a few seasons of reserve play.
It’s been a very different season for Arsenal. They played their best first half of a season in well over a decade and made significant moves in the first transfer window to make it happen. If history has any say here, Arsenal will rely on their young guns, Gnabry and Chamberlain, to provide the much-needed depth required to win a Premier League title.
