Arsenal are waiting to learn the full extent of Takehiro Tomiyasu’s injury after he was forced to pull out of their US tour.
The defender injured his knee in training last week and has stayed behind as a precaution and to undergo further tests.
Tomiyasu has been repeatedly hit by fitness issues during his Arsenal career and Gunners boss Mikel Arteta admitted it was “unbelievable” that he is out again given his excellent work ethic.
Arsenal will be hoping the knee injury is not serious, although their defence is soon set to be bolstered by the £40million signing of versatile Italy defender Riccardo Calafiori from Serie A side Bologna.
“It is unbelievable, because the kid works so hard,” said Arteta, when asked about Tomiyasu’s knee injury in the US on Monday.
“He had an incident in training this week and we don’t know yet the extent of that injury but as a precaution we kept him [in England]. We’ll see what happens.”
Arsenal will be without Tomiyasu for their pre-season tour of the US, which includes games against Bournemouth, Liverpool and Manchester United. However, they will welcome back Jurrien Timber.
The Dutch defender missed almost the whole of last season with a knee injury, only featuring in the first and final Premier League games of the campaign.
Timber is now back fit and Arteta is hoping he can have a big role to play next season.
“He is so willing, you can see that in his body language and the way he acts,” said Arteta. “He has worked so hard, I think he is in a really good place at the moment.
“We are going to have to manage him now in the next few weeks, especially because the load he has been able to do in the last few months compared to the next two weeks is very different, but we are very excited.
“It is not easy to come to a big club like here and start to set expectations with his performances and then on day one in the Premier League you are out for the season.
“But mentally he is a really tough boy. He has a great environment around him and hopefully that will make him a better player.
“He is a leader. He loves to be on show and a big presence in everything that we do. He is very vocal and extremely gifted technically. He is a great addition to the team.”
