Raheem Sterling’s season is going from bad to worse, with the news out of Arsenal today that he’s been ruled out for a while after picking up a knee injury in training last week. The extent of the injury is not yet fully know, nor is the exact expected timeline for recovery, but those sorts of unknowns rarely reveal good news.
“He’s gonna be out for weeks I believe. He needs further testing tomorrow to understand the extent of his injury. It’s his knee. We have to wait and see another 24 hours. Unfortunately, he’s gonna be out for a while.”
-Mikel Arteta; source: Evening Standard, which I guess is now called just The Standard
So that’s not great, especially as the 30-year-old winger has hardly featured for the Gunners since joining them on loan from Chelsea late in the summer transfer window. He’s started just two games in the league, three games in the League Cup, and none in the Champions League, for a total of eleven appearances spanning less than 500 minutes. Not the sort of playing time he’s looking for, though probably still more than he would’ve gotten at Chelsea.
While it doesn’t look like Arsenal are looking to cut his loan short in January — he’s chipped in with a goal and two assists, and Arteta has praised his leadership qualities — his long-term future remains as murky as ever. He will have two more years left on his Chelsea contract after this season.