Gedion Zelalem: The ex-Arsenal wonderkid taking long road to recovery after injury hell

Emma Smith

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Gedion Zelalem: The ex-Arsenal wonderkid taking long road to recovery after injury hell image

Gedion Zelalem was spotted by Arsenal scout Danny Karbassiyoon, who was the first American to score for the Gunners but who had to retire injured at 22. It is a career which mirrors Zelalem in several ways.

Karbassiyoon told Goal in 2016: “Gedion was 13 when I was tipped off about him. I do get a lot of emails about players and messages saying, ‘Come and watch this kid, he’s the next Ronaldo, the next Neymar, he’s nine, he’s left-footed, he’s just amazing.'

“I went to see him on a ridiculously cold January night in Washington, with parents probably wondering why some guy was watching their kid train on his own.

“After about 10 minutes I was thinking to myself that 'this kid is very good.' He demonstrated a level of technical ability, awareness and intelligence that I hadn’t seen in an American kid up to that point – and I had been scouting for four years.”

Born in Germany, Zelalem played in various German youth teams including Hertha Berlin’s academy, then for clubs in America before joining Arsenal in 2013 after being spotted at the prestigious Dallas Cup youth tournament.

He was tipped for stardom, and had the ability to match, but as he told the MLS website in August 2019: “Soccer is not as straightforward as you think it is growing up. There are a lot of ups and downs, there are injuries. I’ve learned a lot.”

Known for his long frame, technical quality and passing skills, Zelalem was compared to Cesc Fabregas as a youngster, moved straight from the U16s to the U21s, and included in the senior squad’s Asian tour in July 2013.

He remembers training with the first team for the first time: “It was surreal. I saw Arsene Wenger, I was starstruck. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I thought I was living in a movie.”

Gedion Zelalem Tab Ramos United States Under-20s GFX

Yet Zelalem never played a senior league game for the Gunners – he was included on the bench for a Premier League game against Fulham in August 2013 but was then ruled out by injury for two months. This would become a theme.

To get experience, Zelalem was sent on season-long loan to Rangers in 2015-16, playing a key role in their promotion back to the Scottish top-flight after they had been demoted all the way to the fourth tier following financial trouble.

He was subsequently linked with a switch to Borussia Dortmund but stayed to fight for a first-team place at Arsenal.

All this time, an international battle was being waged for Zelalem’s allegiance. He played for Germany at international level up to U17s before switching to the US when his father moved to Washington DC following his mother’s death.

“Gedion is simply the most technical player I’ve ever had on the youth national team,” former US U20 manager Tab Ramos said. “Really easy on the ball, can get out of trouble. I saw someone for, at that time, he was really special and different than anyone we ever had.”

Zelalem eventually declared for the US, and earned 10 caps at U20 level, but not a full USMNT appearance yet. Injuries are primarily to blame for that.

His time at Arsenal was heavily disrupted by injuries; the finishing blow came at the end of the 2016-17 season when ruptured knee ligaments while playing for the US at the U20 World Cup kept him out for 18 months.

His eligibility for the US, coming after he became a naturalised citizen, was widely celebrated by fans online, and the tournament was supposed to be a showcase to the football world of his talents; it turned into the ultimate nightmare for any young player, ending after 34 minutes of a 3-3 draw with Ecuador.

target= a club statement.  “He was showing glimpses of the potential he has last year before his injury [yet another knee injury] and we’re excited to see him back on the field in 2021.”

When talking about Zelalem and his failure to break through at Arsenal, it is worth circling back round to Karbassiyoon’s assessment of the player in 2016: “His best traits are his ability to pick a pass, he has amazing vision, he’s very aware of the game going on around him.

“These are the little things that you see some of the top midfielders in the world do. In order to do it at that level, you need to have the complete package and do other things, or do one thing really well that no one else can stop.

“He does have a lot of great features that show he could potentially be a great player.”

Hopefully, Zelalem will get fit and firing, and meet some of those high expectations.

Here are some of the other articles in  Goal's  Forgotten Men series:

Emma Smith