Arsenal 23yo likely out for the season with injury | OneFootball

Loanee Ben Sheaf will miss the rest of the season with an injury, according to Coventry City boss Mark Robins, and he’s returned to Arsenal.

Mark Robins spoke to the media in quotes reported by the Coventry Telegraph this week, giving an update on the status of Arsenal loanee Ben Sheaf.

Sheaf hasn’t featured in a Coventry City match since mid-March, after suffering a tear to his hip flexor. Robins has now confirmed that the 23-year-old has returned to Arsenal and his season-long loan spell is probably over.

“He’s back at Arsenal,” Robins said. “I think he’s done for the season, certainly don’t think he’ll be playing again this season. I have not had any more feedback on it yet and we’re waiting to find out.”

When Sheaf first moved to Coventry, there was talk that his loan contained an obligation to buy – depending on certain conditions being met.

When asked whether the club would be bringing in the Arsenal man permanently, Robins responded: “We’ll cross that bridge at the end of the season.”

That likely means the criteria for Coventry City’s obligation to buy weren’t met. If they were, then we wouldn’t need to ‘cross the bridge’ at the end of the season, because the manager could tell us now that the obligation had been activated and Sheaf was joining.

Sheaf made 31 appearances and 23 starts for Coventry, but none of those starts came after February 2nd. Rather abruptly, Sheaf was relegated to a bench role, after very regular games in the first half of the season.

Perhaps Robins will still look to bring Sheaf back this summer, but it looks like it may require renegotiation. For now, the player will just focus on getting fit with Arsenal.