Emmanuel Frimpong feels he has recovered sufficiently from a serious knee injury to set a target of the Arsenal first team next season. The 19-year-old suffered cruciate knee ligament damage in training, so had to sit and watch as Jack Wilshere went on to win full England honours in a breakthrough campaign for club and country.
Frimpong, born in Ghana but raised in north London, revealed it had been a testing spell of his young career.
"It's been hard over the last [eight] months because I was doing well. You want to be out on the pitch and showing what you can do," Frimpong said on www.arsenal.com.
"I was going to go on loan [last summer] but then the boss said he wanted me to stay and be part of the team.
"It was just unfortunate that I got injured. I think being injured for so long can only make me stronger."
For now, though, Frimpong will just ease his way back into playing.
"It felt a bit strange being on the pitch, but hopefully the more games I can play the more I am going to feel okay," he said.
"It hadn't been planned for me to play, but I told [reserves manager] Neil [Banfield] that I felt fine to play. I'm just happy to be playing after so long."
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