Charles Sagoe Jr.’s return to Arsenal wasn’t as a result of recent injuries in Mikel Arteta’s squad, according to a report.
Shrewsbury Town announced earlier this week that Charles Sagoe Jr.’s loan spell had been cut short, confirming that the winger would return to parent club Arsenal.
James McNicholas reports for The Athletic that the decision was unrelated to Arsenal’s current injury crisis on the wings, despite Sagoe Jr. operating as a winger.
Instead, Shrewsbury themselves made the decision to terminate the loan agreement, with Sagoe Jr. featuring infrequently in the first half of the campaign.
Last month, we’d reported on Sagoe Jr.’s struggle to earn minutes under new Shrewsbury boss Gareth Ainsworth. The forward made the bench against Birmingham City in Ainsworth’s first game in November, but that kicked off a rollercoaster month and a half.
Sagoe Jr. went on to make three appearances (and two starts) interspersed between four squad absences and one appearance as an unused substitute.
It can’t be easy to go from being left out of the squad on a Sunday to starting on the following Wednesday, but that’s what the Arsenal loanee faced over the last couple of weeks of his spell. Ultimately, the loan wasn’t making sense for anyone.
It’s unlikely Sagoe Jr. will make any appearances for Arsenal’s senior side in the short term, particularly in light of McNicholas’ report.
Doing so would prevent him from going out on loan again for the second half of the season, as FIFA rules prevent a player from appearing for three clubs in the same campaign – with some minor exceptions that wouldn’t apply here.
If Arsenal can’t find the player a loan by the end of the January window, he would then be available to Mikel Arteta and u21 boss Mehmet Ali for the remainder of the season. For the time being, he’ll probably only feature in training.
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