Arsenal boost as five players return to training after missing end of season through injury
rsenal have been boosted by the fitness of five players returning to training this week.
Gabriel Martinelli, Mohamed Elneny, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Takehiro Tomiyasu and William Saliba all missed the end of last season but have worked with the Arsenal squad at their training camp in Germany.
The five players are at different stages of their fitness. Elneny, who has been out since January after knee surgery, is the furthest away from being match fit.
Saliba missed the final two months of last season with a back injury and Arsenal are carefully increasing his load following his return to training.
Tomiyasu suffered a knee injury in March and has recovered well after surgery. Martinelli (ankle) and Zinchenko (calf) are both fit again.
Arsenal face Nurnberg in a friendly on Thursday and a decision will be made as to whether any of the five feature, with all of them left out of last week’s behind-closed-doors friendly against Watford.
The Gunners have taken a squad of 30 to Germany, with Kai Havertz hoping to play his first game for the club since his £65million move from Chelsea.
After the match, Arsenal will fly straight back to London and recover before heading off to America on Sunday for their pre-season tour of the United States.
Kai Havertz’s first day at Arsenal
Arsenal want to wrap up deals for Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber by then.
Rice is currently on holiday in Portugal but has been keeping his fitness up by training with other players, who are also yet to join up with their clubs.
The midfielder took part in a session at Browns Sports Resort in Vilamoura with Portugal internationals Bruno Fernandes, Joao Cancelo and Rafael Leao.
Rice has also been working at The Campus in Quinta Do Lago, which has its own dedicated high-performance centre.
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