Arsenal’s Tim Akinola has undergone ‘successful’ surgery on the ankle problem he picked up in training.

Tim Akinola via Dundee United
Tim Akinola via Dundee United

Tim Akinola signed for Dundee United on loan at the end of the January window, but the Arsenal defensive midfielder played only 45 minutes for the Tangerines before picking up an ankle injury that has ended his season.

Those 45 minutes came in a start away to St. Johnstone in early February.

Posting on Instagram, Akinola said, “Successful surgery on my ankle I’ll be back soon.”

Tim Akinola after surgery
Tim Akinola after surgery (via Instagram)

At the start of the month, Dundee United head coach Tam Courts confirmed that the 20-year-old had returned to Arsenal for treatment.

“He had a training ground knock and went down to get that scanned with Arsenal,” Courts said. “It looks like he has had to go down and do rehab there.

“I don’t actually think we’ll see him playing for us again this season.

“It was a really challenging time for him. He played against St Johnstone at a time when we were searching for form and results.

“We changed the formation after that game and started to get a bit more consistency in performance. He found it tough to get back in the team.”

It’s an underwhelming end to what started as a positive season for Akinola.

Playing for the Arsenal u23s, Akinola was part of a strong midfield that thrust Kevin Betsy’s team into contention for the Premier League 2 title.

Quite a few of that team then went out on loans, Akinola included, which was probably the best thing for them.

But it just didn’t quite work out for the former Huddersfield youngster at Dundee United.