Journalist Charles Watts has been left confused as to why Reiss Nelson was not back in contention for the Arsenal matchday squad despite being back in full training.
What’s the word?
The 23-year-old attacker has not played for the Gunners since the break for the winter World Cup after picking up a thigh injury.
However, the winger has been training with the team since the start of February. Since then, though, he hasn’t been passed as fit enough to be involved in games against either Everton or Brentford.
Before that game against the Bees, manager Mikel Arteta explained that while he has “started to do some work outside”, Nelson is “not ready” to play any part just yet.
While speaking about the situation on YouTube, Watts seems confused by it all, saying: “I’m surprised he’s ruled Reiss Nelson out because Reiss has been training, in full training, for the last two weeks now.”He trained ahead of the Everton game last week and he trained all week this week, so I’m surprised he’s ruled him out. He says he’s still not ready to contribute, which is a bit surprising.”New man needed?Seeing as Nelson has been back training for a couple of weeks now, you would think he’d be ready to make the matchday squad, but evidently, Arteta doesn’t want to rush him back too early.Of course, in the winter, Arsenal went out and pulled off the signing of Leandro Trossard, so they do have at least some extra depth on the flanks now.Perhaps that’s why Arteta feels as though he can take his time reintroducing Nelson back into the picture. The Englishman, however, may be desperate to get back and impress with his contract set to expire in the summer.The 23-year-old has shown glimpses of his quality this term. Indeed, he came off the bench for an injured Bukayo Saka in October to score a brace and provide an assist in a 5-0 win over Nottingham Forest.Since then, Nelson has played just one minute of football in the league and so it’ll be a nice boost for the player and club when he’s truly back – which surely can’t be far away.