It seems that even Wenger does not know when Rosicky will be back.
Wenger said: “He is not making much progress. It looks like the tendon of his hamstring is healing slowly. He has been out now for seven weeks. It is difficult to say to you that he will play next week. In fact it is impossible to say when he will return. He has not practised and I don’t know what to say really. It is a frustration for me and him as well.
“He’s a very genuine guy who wants to play. If you tell him to come in tomorrow morning at 4am and leave at midnight so it will be better, he will do it. He has an absolutely genuine attitude and is 100 per cent committed but he’s just not ready.”
The injury situation with the Czech midfielder is ridiculous, I’ve got to say. I am afraid that he will never, ever, be able to become a solid first choice starter who you can guarantee at least 30 games from each season, and so with this problem there is only one solution, which is to buy another winger to go straight into the team.
This is a must if we are going to be able to challenge for the title next season, because at the moment we are not strong enough in wide areas to be able to cope as well as the other three big teams, and although I am not sure our recent bad run has anything to do with this problem, it is inevitable that a lack of freshness due to a lack of depth will cost us at least some points until its sorted.
Rosicky is a quality player when fit, and so there is definitely no need to sell him, but if we can get in another wide man in the summer it will ease our worries about squad depth no end. I know that perhaps we should be thinking about squad issues after the season is over, but I just think that with this latest amazing acceptance by Wenger of Rosicky’s injury problems just highlighted this clear problem.
