Arsenal are set to begin their slate of prseason friendlies with a trip to Girona on August 1. As the summer exhibition season draws near, their list of injury concerns begins to grow. The main anxiety surrounds William Saliba, the Frenchman who their defensive core structure is built around. We just don’t know if he’s going to need surgery or not, as of now. In addition to Saliba, you also have a situation with Jurrien Timber, whose fitness levels suffered a setback while he was at the World Cup. His groin problem flared up again and he couldn’t play for the Netherlands at the big tournament.
And then finally you have Ben White, who seems to be on the mend now from his knee situation.
So let’s now get you up to speed on this trio.
William Saliba
We still don’t know if the 25-year-old central defender’s injury will force him into surgery, and thus sideline him long term. His back problems actually started back during the season, about a couple months before the World Cup commenced.
However, he really gutted it out, showed a lot of courage, and played through the pain at the tournament.
However, he did not feature in the wild quasi-friendly, quasi-competitive match that was the crazy 6-4 loss to England third place game. If Saliba has to go under the knife, then he would potentially miss out on the rest of 2026. But again, we’ll see.
Jurrien Timber and Ben White
We lumped these two Arsenal defenders together into the same subheading due to their appearance in a video that Arsenal published on their social media channels. As pointed out by Football.London, both White and Timber were asked for updates on their injury situations during their appearances within this video.
“Knee’s all good,” White responded, before adding: “started training back with the team last week.”
So White, who was ruled out for “many weeks” back in mid-May, will be ready to go for the preseason.
As for Timber, he answered: “Getting there slowly, trying hard, rehabbing during the summer, hopefully back soon.”
As Football.London points out, Timber is understood to have had a small procedure performed to correct his groin injury. While he did fight all the way back to make the UCL Final squad, he wasn’t fit to feature in the tournament.
You might recall this official statement that was published back on June 8:
“The 24-year-old defender has not recovered sufficiently from a groin injury to take part in the World Cup. In consultation with the medical staff, it has therefore been decided that Timber will leave the national team’s pre-camp in New York after the game vs Uzbekistan.”
Team Injury Updates as Preseason Friendlies Commence
Arsenal Aston Villa Newcastle United Tottenham Hotspur Manchester United Liverpool Chelsea Manchester City
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, Ratings and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Washington Post.