Arsenal right-back Hector Bellerin managed to play only 19 Premier League games this past season as he spent most of the time out injured.
The Spaniard was the first choice right-back for new boss Unai Emery but he missed almost the whole of the second half of the season after rupturing his cruciate ligament.
Hector Bellerin picked up the injury towards the end of January 2019 and he did not play any further part for the remainder of the campaign – missing 25 games across all competitions.
The full-back has constantly posted pictures of his rehab on social media which meant that he should have been fully fit before the start of the 2019-20 campaign.
Now though it looks like that will not be the case.
As per reports, Hector Bellerin’s recovery is taking longer than expected and he is likely to miss the start of the new season.
Sports Mole reported: “Arsenal defender Hector Bellerin will reportedly miss at least a few weeks of the new Premier League season as he continues to recover from his serious knee injury.
The Spaniard had been in line to return at some point during pre-season ahead of the Gunners’ league opener at Newcastle United on August 11, but according to the Evening Standard, he is now “expected to miss several weeks of the new campaign at the very least”.”
This will certainly come as a huge blow for Unai Emery and some rumours suggest that the manager is already making plans to bring in a new right-back during the summer transfer window.
Arsenal have been heavily linked with PSG right-back Thomas Meunier and with a very limited transfer budget, there are already fears that the Gunners might be priced out of the deal.
Last season, Unai Emery stuck to his tried and tested 3-4-1-2 formation with Maitland-Niles playing as the right wing-back.
But some reports have suggested that the manager is looking to use a back-four for the upcoming season. And in order to achieve that with the utmost success, Hector Bellerin will need to be deployed as the right-back.
