Gedion Zelalem has been linked with a loan away from Arsenal for several weeks, and reports out of the Netherlands say a move to an unlikely club is now imminent.
According to Telesport, Zelalem could join Dutch second division side VVV Venlo on loan by Tuesday as Arsenal is reportedly nearing a decision on the midfielder’s future. The Dutch club currently sits top of the Eerste Division table with a seven point lead on second place.
Zelalem, who featured for Scottish club Rangers on loan in 2015-16, was previously linked with a move to Borussia Dortmund before the club denied reports that they were in pursuit of the 19-year-old midfielder.
The midfielder has made just two appearances for Arsenal this season, coming off the bench for a total of 17 minutes across two League Cup matches. Zelalem has yet to make a Premier League appearance for the club, which he joined in 2013.
He just signed an extension at arsenal according to reports, had a medical yesterday so the loan should be announced sometime soon
When I have seen him play he looks like he lacks intensity and has an almost casual approach to the game. Perhaps he is destined for nothing better than 2nd division European football or mid level MLS.
US youth hype-type Ben Ledermen (age 16) formerly of Barcelona Youth academy has signed a new contract with the team as reported on SI.
11 comments so far – has anyone of you seen him play (or even train) in the past 6-12 months?
perhaps we need to start tempering expectations. yes, arsenal are one of the premier teams so it’ll be hard to crack the first team, but hes not even close. they repeatedly loan players on the fringe to other EPL teams, which should indicate how far they think he is from contributing.
If recent rumors are true, then Monchengladbach are purchasing him and part of the deal is that Arsenal had to loan him to a Dutch team for the rest of the season. As Daniel pointed out, Venlo is 35km away from Gladbach.
Paging Frank Simek, who was captain of Arsenal’s reserve side and made one appearance for them in a League Cup match before moving on at age 21. Zelalem may be similar as he has made two non-League appearances. Zelalem is still one year younger (he transferred right before he turned 21, Zelalem turns 20 this week). Folks hear a top name club and make huge assumptions about players. The big clubs have a mediocre track record at best of developing US talent.
It would be hard to see him play in the last 6 months since he doesn’t play
He did play in Arsenals friendlies this Summer a couple were on TV. He looked OK.
I’ve seen his YouTube videos. He’ unstoppable on those.
I think it’s a good idea, last year he played for Rangers which was a SPL quality team playing in the Scottish championship, and played a lot. Sounds similar to this possible loan, they are 7 points on top of second place team so it seems like this is a team that is on the way to promotion. If he can play last year and play this year basically for first division teams I don’t see the harm. First team football is number one priority, yes opponents are weaker but he would be playing on a normal basis
well that’s the problem, this is the second division in the Netherlands, not England, where he would have gotten competitive games week in and out. It’s really strange that he couldn’t have caught on with a Championship team as an Arsenal player. I thnk rthis is a waste honestly, he probably would have been better off continuing to practice with the Arsenal first team.
Venlo is 35km away from Gladbach – which is probably his summer destination
Why would Gladbach want him? His actual time on the field shows me nothing if I am a team looking to add a young player who can contribute.
Bryan, it’s almost like you are not a professional scout or something…
All the kid does is backpass
Man this is a step backwards, he is def good enough for the Dutch 1 division.
yeah i’m with you Mike on this one. This is clearly a couple of steps down in competition, and if he’s not careful could regress. Arsenal seem to be holding this man hostage, to me don’t have him in their future pans and probably should have off loaded him a year ago! There is no way anyone can tell me that he is not at the least, savvy enough to compete in the Eredivise, where he would still be getting the proper development and playing in games that matter.
I know he’s young but its time to start asserting yourself if you are this guy. If he joins this minor league dutch club, trots around spraying back passes for a few months and then comes back to London and expects to play that just isn’t going to be good enough.
Wasn’t part of the Monchengladbach offer that he be loaned to a Dutch side for the rest of the year? Could just be a part of that deal with more news to follow.
Venlo is right next to the German border – only a few miles away from Monchengladbach… It seems as if Monchengladbach might be his summer destination.
I wonder if he didn’t want to go somewhere where he wasn’t guaranteed starts, so his options were limited. I also notice that between Rangers and VVV both were a notch above their leagues so he gets to play in a side which in theory might have more possession and attacking intent, and have to break down defenses more than if he went to a mid/low eredivisie side.
How is that better than MLS?
Holland in general is probably well suited to his finesse skill set, more so than rough and tumble SPL, and I guess if you’re moving mid season dropping down ensures you actually play.
its not at all. any MLS team is way better than this team
what it is:
– got to be assured playing time
– nearby Arsenal (they can easily keep an eye on his progress)
– follows the same calendar (a loan to MLS would complicate his off season/ability to get back into the Arsenal first team next year)
This has a lot more to do with his potential move to Monchengladbach