Gedion Zelalem has been sidelined for an extended period of time, but it appears the U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team midfielder is getting closer and close to a return.
The Arsenal midfielder posted a video to Instagram on Monday showing that he has returned to running just months following an ACL tear. Zelalem suffered the injury just moments into the U.S. U-20s opener against Ecuador back in May’s U-20 World Cup.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcSiOHlBtYN/
Zelalem spent last season on loan with Dutch club VVV Venlo after previously featuring for Scottish club Rangers. The 20-year-old has earned four senior appearances for Arsenal, although he has yet to make his Premier League debut.
While Zelalem is still a prospect to watch and hope for, we are entering into an era where for the first time that there are a number of quality players emerging at the CM positions:
10’s: Pulisic, Scott, Saief, Parks, Zelalem
8’s: McKennie, Acosta, Adams, Roldan, Parks, Hyndman, De La Torre, Zelalem, Delgado
6’s: Gonzalez, McKennie, Acosta, Canouse, Parks, Roldan
There will be real competition for roster spots during the 2022 cycle and everyone is going to have to earn their place in the 23.
Agreed, there are others when you go into the recent U-17 roster, Acosta and Carleton. Acosta is so late maturing that his growth in the next couple years could be phenomenal. Since it is very likely many of these will fail ti improve, it is good that there are many. (Most will not get worse and Pulisic is already pretty good). Players of these ages can make big strides, it will be interesting to see how many improve and pan out, but the future looks at least hopeful.
I hope him the best for his recovery. While he was never a play who relied on speed, he does rely heavily on sharp turns. Hopefully all goes well.
After reading the last Americans Abroad rewind I had begun wondering about Zelalem since had hadn’t been mentioned in a long time. I hope he recovers fully since sometimes players will lose a little speed after a knee injury. Will Arsenal loan him out? I hope he gets a chance to play regularly after he recovers fully. We still need a good playmaker in the middle.
Fight on G, still got high hopes for u