Danny Welbeck’s ability to participate in a number of games in a short period of time remains a major concern for England before the European Championship after the Arsenal striker was restricted to light gym work at St George’s Park a little over three days after playing at Everton.
The decision to limit the striker’s involvement on Tuesday, when Roy Hodgson’s squad met at their training base in Burton to prepare for the friendlies against Germany and Holland, was taken after discussions with Arsenal’s medical staff as the player continues to work on his recovery from a knee problem.
Welbeck, who had initially been diagnosed with bruising on the bone after a game against Chelsea last April, was forced to undergo surgery on his left knee in September and ended up missing almost 10 months.
The 25-year-old, who earned his 33rd and most recent cap almost a year ago when scoring in a qualifying win over Lithuania, returned against Leicester City in mid-February, registering Arsenal’s stoppage-time winner at the Emirates. He has now scored four goals in nine matches, though he has not completed a full 90 minutes in any of those games and concerns remain as to whether he can play twice in a week.
England face three group games in nine days at Euro 2016, a relatively crammed schedule, and Welbeck must convince Hodgson over what remains of the domestic campaign that his availability will not be affected by his long lay-off.
Daniel Sturridge, who has had his own considerable fitness issues and has not played for his country since a friendly against Norway in September 2014, trained alongside Jamie Vardy, Harry Kane and Theo Walcott at St George’s Park.
Southampton’s Ryan Bertrand missed that session with an unspecified injury and will be assessed again on Wednesday to determine whether he can travel to Berlin. The captain Wayne Rooney, who is recovering from knee ligament damage, is due to visit the squad at Burton at some stage this week if his rehabilitation programme at Carrington permits. He will be in the stands at the game against Holland on Tuesday, but is not expected to be available to play again for another month.
While there is still hope Welbeck will be available for at least one of England’s fixtures, concerns linger over whether he will be able to play regularly at the finals. Arsène Wenger had said over the weekend that starting Welbeck in Barcelona on Wednesday and then at Goodison Park three days later had represented a risk.
“I had many hesitations to play him before the game because he is still not completely over his knee problem,” said the Arsenal manager. , who saw Welbeck score the opening goal at Everton. “We have to be cautious, but I pushed it because I knew this was now or never [for the team’s Premier League title bid]””
Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
Ramsey out for a month.
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