The international break was not kind to Arsenal, who now have two new injury concerns, one major, one minor in Gabriel Magalhaes and Riccardo Calafiori. Let’s start with Gabriel, who pulled a muscle in his thigh while featuring for Brazil, in their friendly against Senegal. We don’t know the full severity of the issue right now, but ESPN Brazil reports that the central defender will be out for at least four weeks.
“Bad? I don’t know,” said Brazil boss Carlo Ancelotti. “He had an injury in his adductor.”
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“The medical staff has to check tomorrow. We are really sorry for this, really disappointed. When a player has an injury, you hope they can recover well and soon.”
So we’ll just have to wait and see. Shifting gears to Calafiori, he left Italy national team camp early, and returned to Arsenal ahead of time, but it was just precautionary. He was only dealing with cramps.
“We tried Calafiori, he had a few issues,” said Italy manager Gennaro Gattuso of the defender. “I thank him for his commitment. He stayed here for a week. He could have played perhaps, but it wouldn’t have been fair to him or Arsenal”
Gattuso is spot on, national team managers due to need to approach everything with on eye on the concerns of their respective players clubs.
And then you have some good news, bad news, going on with two of the longer-term knee injury absentees- Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard. The former has encountered a set back, and his timeline for return is delayed. Meanwhile the latter is improving, and is now ahead of schedule.
Said Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta a couple days ago: “Kai had a minor relapse, but overall he’s doing well… [Expected to be back in action] towards the end of the year.”
Arteta gave an update on Odegaard four days ago: “It’s moving forward. Today’s match came a little too early… But it’s starting to look better, so I will hopefully be back soon.”
So an early next month return for Odegaard, mid-to-late next month for Havertz.
Gabriel Jesus remains out while Chukwunonso Madueke, Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Martinelli are all expected to miss out here as well.
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. 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, the Washington Post and ESPN.