Arsenal midfielder reveals he might not be at the club next season

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Published on:

19 Apr 2016, 2:06 pm

By Alex Stevens

Gedion Zelalem has revealed he could return to Rangers for a second spell next season.

The highly-rated Arsenal midfielder, 19, has spent the entire campaign on loan at Ibrox to gain crucial first-team experience.

He has played a significant part in Rangers' Scottish championship title triumph, and impressed in the team's Scottish Cup semi-final win over Celtic, keeping his cool to score in the penalty shoot-out.

Zelalem will head back to London in the summer but has admitted he would be keen to continue his development with Mark Warburton's side next season if the opportunity arised.

"Firstly I'm going to go back to pre-season with Arsenal and see how I do there," said Zelalem, as quoted in the Scottish Sun. "If it doesn't work out there then this is another option.

"I haven't spoken to the gaffer here yet about it but I'm sure that conversation will come up."

Central midfielder Zelalem has made 23 appearances for Rangers this season, 12 of which have been league starts.

He has yet to open his goal account for the Scottish giants but has provided evidence of his creative abilities by supplying eight assists in all competitions.

He added to the Scottish Sun: "This is what I wanted in football to play in these types of games and big derbies be it Arsenal v Tottenham or Rangers v Celtic.

"I'm living the dream and I hope to continue to do that."

But manager Warburton does not appear confident that Zelalem and fellow on-loan Premier League player Dominic Ball, whose parent club is Tottenham, will be members of Rangers squad next season as they attempt to establish themselves in the top flight with the north London giants.

Warburton said: "They will go back to their clubs. They are Tottenham and Arsenal players respectively. Obviously we chat to the clubs about the situation with players but they are loan players that have done a fantastic job for us.

"I hope they enjoyed the experience and they’ll go back to their clubs, I hope, better people and better players."

In other Arsenal transfer news, the Gunners are eyeing a new centre-back who is rated in the £30million bracket.

Arsenal

Gedion Zelalem