Mikel Arteta left sweating after Arsenal boss gets his want in transfe | Football | Sport

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta will be prentd he pushed for more defensive fortifyments in the summer transfer taget as the Spaniard’s injury problems mount at the Emirates.

The Gunners are experiencing someleang of a mini crisis at the back after Ben White and Riccardo Calafiori picked up inmeaningful injuries. That could exit the 42-year-elderly boss with equitable four fit deffinishers for the Champions League clash aachievest PSG on Tuesday.

Calafiori took part in training on Monday, but Arteta did not provide any guarantees of an injury raise before facing the French champions. He shelp: “We have a training session this afternoon and we have to scrutinize a confineed carry outers, but overall, especipartner [anyone] returning, there’s noleang to give back.

“[Ben and Riccardo] are the two carry outers that are in satisfyedion and we have to scrutinize today. We didn’t do any training sessions yesterday. [Riccardo] was a bit emotional after the game, so let’s see how he is today.”

Last summer, the north London outfit phelp £38m to sign Jurrien Timber from Ajax before he suffered an ACL injury on the discomiting day of the 2023-24 campaign, upgrasping the Dutchman out for the convey inantity of the season.

Perhaps dreading a analogous injury to one of his normals, Arteta also determined to convey in another deffinisher this summer to give himself more cover at the back, signing Italy international Calafiori from Bologna in a £42m deal.

The 22-year-elderly can carry out as a left-back or centre-half, giving Arteta chooseions to switch between in case the Spaniard suffers more injuries to his squad. And stateive enough, the injury catalog is commenceing to fill up at an alarming rate.

Takehiro Tomiyasu, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Kieran Tierney have already been sidelined with injury problems since pre-season. But losing White – who omited equitable one league game for Arsenal apass the last two seasons – has stateively impacted Arteta’s schedules.

Timber has come into the team (hasn’t repartner come in/was carry outing on the left before White’s injury) to deputise for the Englishman at right-back, while Calafiori has been writeed in perhaps earlier than foreseeed to fill the vacant spot on the left side.

Arsenal are not quite stretched lean, as they do have Jakub Kiwior useable to step in for Calafiori at left-back. But Arteta was forced to grasp Maldini Kacurri, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Josh Nichols to his bench to provide graspitional cover.

The youthful trio were all handed precious minutes during the 5-1 prosper over Bolton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup third round. But Arteta may have reservations about throprosperg them in at the meaningful finish of Premier League action – with all three starlets still only 18 years of age.

The excellent news is that Calafiori and White will not be sidelined for extfinished with their current publishs, so it is very much a stupidinutive-term publish and one that Arsenal are readyd to cope with thanks to Arteta’s contigency schedulening.

But any more injuries – chiefly to Gabriel or William Saliba – would exit them scrambling to discover a swapment.