In 2019, Gedion Zelalem moved from Arsenal to Kansas City, an MLS team.
The 27-year-old enjoyed loan stints at Rangers and Dutch team VVV-Venlo after initially joining the Gunners during the 2011–12 season.
When Zelalem made his Arsenal debut against Coventry City in the FA Cup back in January 2014, he showed talent far beyond his years.
Zelalem’s time at Rangers looked promising, with good performances under Mark Warburton, but he struggled for minutes at Venlo after that. All of this changed in May 2017, when Zelalem suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament during an Under-20 match for the USA. The injury kept him out of action for 467 days, and Zelalem believes that this is what ultimately kept him from succeeding at Arsenal.
Zelalem says an injury ended his career at Arsenal.
Zelalem talked candidly about his difficulties dealing with the serious injury he sustained while living in north London with The Athletic.
Even though he had stagnated and gone out on loan, he continued, “I still think things would have gone differently at Arsenal if I hadn’t got an anterior cruciate ligament injury.”
After missing six months due to an additional surgery, I was sidelined for more than 400 days. The worst part was that I spent two or three years completely apart from myself.
Being one of my team’s best players all along made it difficult for me to accept that I wasn’t as agile as I once was. It was really hard to go from that to not being that guy.
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