Reid setback highlights mounting worry over ACL injuries

Defender is the third Arsenal player out with the same knee issue this season amid fears over match scheduling

- Suzanne Wrack

On Monday, two days before their Allianz Arena game against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, Arsenal announced that their centre-back Katie Reid had sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

The 19-year-old, who was pulled forward to lift the Champions League trophy in front of fans by the captain Leah Williamson at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium celebration in May, had a meteoric rise at the start to the season, partnering Steph Catley in place of the injured Williamson, starting many games ahead of the World Cup winner Laia Codina and double European Championship winner Lotte Wubben-Moy.

“It’s always horrible, especially for her,” the manager, Renée Slegers, said. “She started the season so well for us. With her age, how mature she has been, how she’s been in the group and how she has grown every single day, it is very disappointing for her. It’s very hard. She’s been with us in the last couple of days and surgery is planned. She will move forward from there. She said she will use this time to grow as a footballer, which says everything about Katie.”