ARSENAL PLAYERS SUFFERED MOST INJURIES LAST SEASON

ARSENAL players suffered more injuries and spent more time on the sidelines last season than those from any other Premier League side – costing the club nearly £15 million (R251m) in wasted wages.

Fifteen first-team players spent 201 weeks out injured in 2015/16 with each lay-off costing the club an average of nearly £1m, research has shown.

Only Manchester City, who spent £16.3m on injured players’ wages, paid more despite having fewer injuries, according to figures compiled by data services firm Hopewiser.

Methods

The numbers could raise more questions about the training methods employed by the north London club.

After a particularly bad spell of injuries in 2015, outspoken Dutch fitness coach Raymond Verheijen criticised Arsene Wenger’s “old school” practices.

“You have this group of young players who are consistently injured for months, season after season,” Verheijen said. “We are talking about (Aaron) Ramsey, (Theo) Walcott, (Alex) Oxlade-Chamberlain, (Jack) Wilshere and also in the past (Bacary) Sagna, (Robin) Van Persie and (Cesc) Fabregas.

“Young players are getting injured for weeks or months and that is a very worrying pattern.”

He questioned whether Wenger had adapted his coaching style since moving to England more than two decades ago, and suggested he was working players too hard.

“The main reason for injuries is the accumulation of fatigue because, when you accumulate fatigue over time, your brain has less control over your body and your co-ordination goes down and then you are vulnerable to injuries,” he said.

“The question is: ‘ Who is the main reason for fatigue?’ The main reason for the fatigue is the fitness football coach because he is responsible for the planning of training. Wenger is responsible.”

But Wenger hit back at the claims, defending Arsenal’s training and the club’s medical staff.

“This guy looks like he knows absolutely everything,” he said of Verheijen. “I am amazed that he knows more than all our physios and all our doctors.

“I trust my medical staff to do well and my coaching staff to do the fitness planning.”

The costliest injuries to Arsenal last year were Danny Welbeck’s knee cartilage (£3.9m) and Carl Jenkinson’s ligament (£1.6m). – The Independent