Arsenal’s Reuell Walters was absent from the u21s’ play-off defeat to Chelsea through injury, but the defender isn’t expected to be out for long.

Arsenal crashed out of the Premier League 2 play-offs on Saturday due to a 95th-minute winner from Chelsea’s Diego Moreira, and one mitigating factor for the defeat was the absence of key defender Reuell Walters.

Walters has been a consistent starter for Arsenal this season when available, and he provided an assist playing 90 minutes for the young Gunners in their round-of-16 win over Manchester United last week.

But the 19-year-old was absent for the subsequent quarter-final clash, with Jeorge Bird confirming that the player missed out through injury.

Fortunately, the injury was only described as a minor one, though Arsenal’s elimination means there aren’t any u21 games left for them to play this season anyway.

The England youth coaches will be more interested in exactly how long Walters is set to miss, with another international break coming up after the club campaign ends.

Walters was called up by the England u20s in March, and he may be involved in the international youth setup at some level next month.

Over the course of the season, Walters made 23 appearances for the Arsenal u21s and u19s, captaining the u19 team throughout their UEFA Youth League campaign and taking on the armband for the u21s on one occasion as well.

Walters is yet to make his first-team debut, but he’s made 20 appearances on the bench for Mikel Arteta’s side, as well as playing a couple of pre-season friendlies.

The question now is whether he’ll ever get a chance to feature for the Arsenal first team, with his contract expiring in the summer and no confirmation over an extension just yet.