Serious knee injuries freeze summer lists. They do not delete them. Clubs keep the number and wait to see when the player can run.
A left-sided attacker who was close to the top of a shortlist does not become a stranger because the window shut. Contact is cheap. Signing him is not.
Beating a medical timetable is the player’s line. Clubs still listen to the doctors.
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TeamTalk report that Arsenal have maintained contact with Rodrygo’s camp while the Real Madrid forward recovers from an ACL tear suffered against Getafe in March. He is already running. Madrid’s medical staff have pencilled in a New Year return. The 25-year-old wants to be back before Christmas.
Arsenal, the site says, were close to making him their leading left-sided target last summer before the injury. Talks with Madrid continued after the failed pursuit of Vinicius Junior. Enquiries were also made about Endrick. Rodrygo is now back on the January shortlist.
There are no quotes from the player, Arteta or Florentino Pérez. Treat it as TeamTalk sourcing, not a bid.
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The football case is obvious. Gabriel Martinelli’s £60million sale to Al-Hilal left a hole. Christos Tzolis, Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke have shared the wide work. Max Dowman has just scored twice in the cup. Rio Ngumoha has been monitored at Liverpool. None of that is Rodrygo.
A winter move for a player who has not played since March would be unusual. Madrid will want him fit and contributing first. Arsenal would need to decide whether they still have room and money after already spending on Bruno Guimaraes and Ezri Konsa, and while Arteta’s own new contract is described as very close.
Vinicius stayed. Endrick is in Mourinho’s squad. Rodrygo’s rehabilitation is the only new fact. If he is playing in December, the conversation TeamTalk describe becomes real. If he slips into 2027, it waits another window.
Until then it is contact, admiration and a shortlist that never quite went away. January is the date they have attached to it. Fitness is the date that matters.
Viktor Gyokeres
Viktor Gyokeres