Marquinhos has not travelled with the Arsenal squad for Thursday's Europa League clash against PSV Eindhoven, Mikel Arteta has confirmed.
As first revealed by football.london earlier in the day, the £3m summer signing from Sao Paulo was one of four first-team players - alongside Emile Smith Rowe, Mohamed Elneny and Oleksandr Zinchenko - not spotted in the final training session at the club's London Colney base.
It was later reported that the Brazilian was feeling unwell - hence his absence. And it can now be confirmed that it's enough to keep him out of contention to face PSV on Thursday evening with Arteta announcing in his pre-match press conference that the winger has not made the trip to the Netherlands.
READ MORE: Arsenal press conference LIVE: Mikel Arteta on Marquinhos, injuries, £50m transfer budget and PSV
"We had Marquinhos who wasn’t feeling well today and didn’t travel," the Arsenal manager told reporters. "For the rest we are OK. We don’t have that many players. Even the players that we have, we are bringing four kids with us so we can make the squad. We need to put 11 players there and they have to play. We cannot always change 10, 11 players every game."
Marquinhos started the first two group games, scoring and claiming an assist in the 2-1 win over FC Zurich on matchday one before struggling to impress in the 3-0 victory against FK Bodo/Glimt a month later.
In fact, the teenager endured 'a slightly disappointing night' on what was his first game at the Emirates Stadium following his arrival in the summer transfer window and football.london noted that Arteta was seen frustratedly shouting at the him after failing to support Fabio Vieira in a movement on the right-hand side.
Subsequently left out of the starting line-up for the reverse fixture against the Norwegian outfit, Marquinhos was an unused substitute when Arsenal beat PSV last Thursday and he won't be adding to his three appearances in the competition on Thursday evening.
What this means for Arteta's team selection remains to be seen. Of course, the most obvious contender to slot in on the right-hand side of attack is Bukayo Saka - who impressed at the Emirates a week ago - or the Spaniard could draft in Reiss Nelson for only his second start of the season.
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