Unai Emery has confirmed Danny Welbeck will speak with the club about his future after he recovers from injury, which could possibly be before the end of the season.

Welbeck suffered a major injury back in November, requiring multiple surgeries and an extended period of absence. However, the striker is slowly edging closer to a return. He recently travelled to Dubai with the first team for some warm weather training, and supporters were encouraged by the sight of him running and passing the ball.

As a result, the media have started to question Unai Emery about the possibility of the 28-year-old returning to action before the end of the season, and perhaps even getting a contract extension in North London.

“He’s progressing very well,” Emery confirmed. “He is working and starting to touch the ball and to work on the pitch. His progress with such a big injury is going very well. It’s difficult for him to play matches this season but he is progressing very well and maybe the doctor will tell us he can come train with us in the last weeks of this season.

“After, his individual thing is to speak with the club [about his future].”

Of course, whether Welbeck has time to return this season will likely partly depend on when the campaign actually ends.

If Arsenal make the Europa League final, they’ll still be playing football at the very end of May, with the trip to Baku on the 29th. If they don’t, the season ends on May 12th, and the genuinely competitive matches could end even earlier if the Gunners drop out of the top-four race.

It would be quite a story to see the Englishman coming off the bench at the end of May to head home past the Chelsea goalkeeper and win the final, but there’s a long way to go for that dream to become reality.