Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has confirmed that striker Danny Welbeck has made his long awaited return to fitness, only to go on to stress that the England international will need to be patient to make his way onto the pitch, according to the Metro.
Welbeck has been on the sidelines for the past ten months with a serious knee injury, but has recently made his way back to full time training and is still harbouring hopes of getting some minutes under his belt before the end of the season.
But Wenger wants to temper his desire to jump straight back into the action by telling him that he will need to feature in a few under-21 games before he can start to think about competing with Olivier Giroud for a starting spot.
“It has to be gradual, and he has to go through under-21 games,” Wenger said in his press conference.
“Danny has not played since April and we are now in February so that is very long for a top-level competitor. That means you have to accept that he goes through small steps and one of them is to play in the under-21s for the first 45 minutes.
“He is basically fit but now he has to absorb the competition, the intensity of the competition, and that becomes the next step for him.”
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