I’ve heard a few rumblings lately with regards to Dan Gosling. How long is he going to be out for And when is he likely to return to first team action Those kinds of rumblings…

I really was looking forward to seeing him play and I thought it was a great bit of business done by NUFC regardless of his injury, and I’m sure a lot of people, especially those with one eye on the future, will agree with me.

Now we all knew when he signed that he was injured, and it was a bad injury at that! So when Chris Hughton told us that he wouldn’t be available until January at the earliest it came as no major surprise.

True to his word Gosling did make his long awaited comeback in January, and would you believe it was against them lot from down the road. Even though it was only a five minute cameo we all thought that Gosling had almost recovered and that we were going to see him play a major role in the second half of the season. Sadly it hasn’t turned out like that.

The day after he played against Sunderland he played in a reserve game and lasted the whole 90 minutes. Now that, for me anyway, was a mistake as with him clearly not 100% the club should have known that he wasn’t ready for a whole match, regardless of what level it was.

Then would you believe it, a few days after playing in that reserve game manager, Alan Pardew confirmed that Gosling had been complaining of swelling around his knee and that it just wasn’t going away. So Gosling had to go under the knife for a second time, but this time he was expected to out for around three to four weeks.

Now here we are in late March and still there had been no word from club regarding his injury or how long it would be before we see him play, up until this week! It came from the rather unusual source of assistant John Carver where he had this to say on the matter;

”Dan Gosling is about three weeks away – he is progressing nicely.”

Not a lot of information given there but considering we’ve heard nothing in months it is a welcome boost. Carver also confirmed that he would feature before the seasons out so hopefully we will see him in one or two cameo appearances before going on to get a good pre-season under his belt. Then we’ll get to the best of a fully fit Dan Gosling next season.

If that doesn’t happen and he doesn’t play again this season the thing that people must remember is that he is only 20 years old, one year older than Nile Ranger, so he is still very young and has time on his side.

Another advantage with Gosling is that he can play in a few positions, which Alan Pardew mentioned that he liked in a player, although Gosling himself said he sees himself a centre midfielder. Personally I can’t see him getting a lot of game time in that position, at least next season I can’t anyway.

But lets not get carried away. Get him FULLY fit, take no risks and if that means not seeing him again until pre-season then so be it. I’ll be disappointed but just imagine how he feels himself, at a new club and just wanting to be able to prove himself but not being able to do so.

If we’re careful then I have no doubt that we have a cracking player not only for next season but for years to come. But for next season lets just hope when we play Everton away he puts in a brilliant performance and caps it off with a wonder goal!

Now that is something us fans and Gosling himself would love!

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