Brooke Norton-Cuffy revealed on Thursday that he’d had surgery on his recent injury, and he hopes to be back soon.

After receiving a call-up to the England u18s last month, Arsenal youth defender Brooke Norton-Cuffy had to withdraw with an injury. A couple of weeks later, he’s confirmed that he’s had to have surgery on the problem.

Posting on his social media pages, Norton-Cuffy wrote: “Minor setback but ready to come back stronger.

“Many of you probably don’t know, but today I had an operation. Surgery went well and I will be back soon.”

It’s unlikely the right-back sustained the injury with England, as he was already absent for the youth games immediately preceding the international break. He’d been in training with the first team earlier in the week.

The timing is obviously not ideal, picking up an injury just after you get the chance to play with the senior players. But these setbacks happen with young players all the time, and Norton-Cuffy easily has the talent and the time he needs to bounce back.

The Arsenal u23s are somewhat overstocked at right-back, with Zak Swanson and Ryan Alebiosu available as experienced alternatives to Norton-Cuffy, and up-and-coming 16-year-old Reuell Walters behind them.

So there’s no pressure on Norton-Cuffy to rush back. Now that the surgery is out of the way, he can focus on making a full recovery.