Danny Welbeck 'back around Christmas', says Arsene Wenger
Thursday 18 August 2016 23:08, UK
Danny Welbeck could be back in action at Christmas after positive news on his injured knee, Arsene Wenger has revealed.
Welbeck was ruled out for nine months in May after injuring his right knee during a 2-2 draw at Manchester City.
The England striker had surgery at the time and was back in hospital last week for further examination.
And Wenger was able to celebrate a rare bit of good news after losing centre-halves Per Mertesacker and Gabriel in pre-season and seeing Aaron Ramsey and Alex Iwobi come off injured in the 4-3 defeat to Liverpool.
He said: "If the healing was not good, he would have been out until April. The news was excellent and he will be back around Christmas.
"That was the good news of last week, the only good news. That was very positive."
Wenger tried to sign Leicester's Jamie Vardy earlier in the summer and remains short of options up front, with his only recognised senior centre-forward Olivier Giroud still to complete a full pre-season.
But the immediate priority is a centre-half to cover the loss of Mertesacker and Gabriel, and the Arsenal boss is not ruling out moving for an experienced player.
Southampton captain Jose Fonte, 32, has been linked and Wenger said: "If it is a guy of 32 and we think he has the quality then we will do it.
"We have been in the market a long time but if you look around in Europe, all my friends I call are all looking for centre-backs but they cannot find them."
In the meantime Wenger must decide whether to recall Laurent Koscielny at Leicester on Saturday or stick with the young pairing of Calum Chambers and Rob Holding.
Koscielny, like Giroud and Germany's Mesut Ozil, was given an extended break after Euro 2016 and Wenger said on Thursday it would be "a gamble" to pick the defender this weekend.
