Arsenal have a new injury concern in winger Christos Tzolis. The summer acquisition from Club Brugge suffered an injury, and had to subbed off, during Greece’s 2-2 UEFA Nations League draw against the Netherlands on Thursday.
It is reportedly a hamstring injury, and he’s now set to leave the Greece camp, and return to Arsenal for further assessment.
As reported in Standard Sport claims that Arsenal are awaiting the results of a scan, in order to assess the severity of the injury. It is a bit early, of course, to speculate on how long Tzolis will be out, but a report in Yahoo Sports claims that it could be about three weeks.
With that timeline, he would miss Arsenal’s first match out of the internationals, a Saturday home match against Leeds United, and then potentially a couple more games. However, he could still return before the end of the month.
Greece manager Ivan Jovanovic said the following, during his post match press opportunity, on the situation: “How do I handle it? You tell me? I’m his coach, I tell him to go out and he says ‘I’m not going out’. How do I handle it?
“So, this is something that I characterise as the Greek mentality and all these kids who come to play in the national team regardless of age. I think it was a scene that everyone saw, those who were close.
“I told him to get out, because I suspected that he wouldn’t have done that if he hadn’t felt something. We don’t know how big the damage is today, but I hoped it was just a twitch, something temporary.
“I didn’t have any reason to be honest, because these aren’t qualifiers, they’re the Nations League. First and foremost I wanted to protect the player.
“He didn’t want to stay near me to go out. Instead, he went to defend the corner. And then he went out. These are our players.”
There should be some more information coming out on Christos Tzolis in the next few days, so stay tuned for that.
Squad Injury Updates: September/October International Break
Real Madrid Liverpool FC Chelsea Part 1 Chelsea Part 2 Chelsea Part 3 Manchester United Manchester United Part 2 Manchester United Part 3 Arsenal Manchester City Tottenham Hotspur Everton Aston Villa Part 1 Aston Villa Part 2 FC Barcelona Newcastle United Part 1 Newcastle United Part 2 Newcastle United Part 3 Bayern Munich Borussia Dortmund Leeds United
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.