Unlucky Gibbs needs to get fit and play some games

There is little doubt that Arsenal’s twenty-one year old left back Kieran Gibbs is one of the brightest English prospects. He looks to have everything required to take over from Ashley Cole when he decides to hang up his international boots.

Surprise

Although it was something of a surprise that he was selected for England for their disappointing friendly defeat to France last month, that was further evidence of how he is regarded within the game.

The problem is that the young full back is finding it very difficult to get minutes on the pitch. He is basically the understudy to France’s reserve left back Gael Clichy, but any chance he has of reversing that position is continually blighted by a series of injuries.

Injury

Tomorrow night’s big game at Old Trafford will once again see Gibbs watching from the stands nursing an injury. He suffered an ankle injury against Partizan Belgrade on Wednesday and is expected to be out for three weeks. The injury was a complete accident and happened when he turned over his ankle in open play.

Gibbs missed most of the 2009-10 season with a fractured metatarsal and then he severely bruised that same left foot in in September. After that he then sustained medial knee ligament damage in October and was making only his seventh club start this season against Partizan.

Debut

Since making his debut for the side in October 2007, Gibbs has managed just thirty-seven appearances for Arsenal in those three years, only thirteen of which have been in the Premier League.

Team-mate Cesc Fabregas expressed concern for Gibbs via his twitter page,

“Best wishes to my good friend Kieran Gibbs. Sometimes, when you are in a bad run with injuries nothing goes your way, but he will go past it.”

Concern

Manager Arsene Wenger also expressed concern for Gibbs both mentally and physically,

“He is incredibly unlucky. I am very disappointed about it. I hope it will not put in his mind that he is an injured player. It was just an accident and you cannot do anything about it. Time will help him get over that and it is not major damage in his ankle.”

Recovery

Hopefully Gibbs will make a quick recovery and force his way into the Arsenal first team with a decent run of injury free games. At the age of twenty-one many top players have already made over a hundred appearances in the big league and Gibbs is in danger of being left behind.

It is remarkable that a player with his talent and potential, already an England international, has made only thirteen first team appearances for his club side in the league.

Shame

It was a real shame that Gibbs was injured last week because he may just have earned a place in the side for Old Trafford and gained some valuable experience. However, the truth is, Gael Clichy is expected to be fit so he probably would have sat on the bench anyway.

Good luck to Kieran Gibbs. He is of an age now where he needs to be playing and not missing games through injury and not being selected.