Arsenal have had their fair share of injury problems this season.
Kai Havertz is out for the season, while Bukayo Saka has been sidelined for a long time now.
However, there has been some positive news on the injury front as of late.
Gabriel Martinelli recently returned from injury, while Ben White is also back in action.
Speaking on Live From N5, Nigel Winterburn has been discussing White’s return from injury, and he made an interesting claim about the full-back.
White was sidelined after having surgery on his knee late last year, but according to Winterburn, White hasn’t looked fully fit since the start of the season.
Ben White hasn’t looked fully fit all season
Winterburn spoke about White and his return from injury.
The Arsenal legend suggested that White didn’t look fully fit at all this season, while he also noted that his route back into the starting XI now isn’t all that simple.
“It’s about getting back to more gametime. Particularly for Ben White, there’s no doubt, at the start of the season I’m not sure he was actually fully fit, he was playing and playing and playing, and all of a sudden he gets an injury. Timber comes in and the Lewis-Skelly has been sensational, Calafiori has come in there as well,” Winterburn said.
“Football is funny because you need a great team spirit, but you know the guy behind you is trying to take your position.”
Ben White has been carrying an injury for ages
Winterburn says that White hasn’t looked fully fit all season long, and that does add up.
Indeed, White hasn’t been 100% for a long time.
According to James McNicholas, speaking 12 months ago, White carried an injury all throughout the 2023/24 campaign.
In fact, according to McNicholas, Arsenal staff have to be very careful with White as he’ll happily hide his injuries and play through the pain.
“He has been incredibly durable, but the truth is that he’s been injured for much of this season. He’s been carrying a knee problem, but he’s been playing anyway,” McNicholas said.
“He’s known within the dressing room to be one of the toughest guys out there. There was a game against Newcastle a couple of seasons ago where he played with a significant hamstring tear, he was basically on one leg, but Arsenal were short of defenders and he was prepared to play strapped up.
“It’s almost at the point where the staff have to watch White carefully because he doesn’t like to communicate with them when he has a problem, because he wants to play.”
White has been carrying this knee problem since 2023, and it took over 18 months for the defender to get the surgery he needed to fix this problem.
Frighteningly, White still earned praise while carrying this injury, and if he returns feeling fitter and fresher than ever, he could be like a new signing for Arsenal in the coming weeks.
We could see the £50m man step up to another level in the coming months.
