MIKEL ARTETA HAS revealed new signing Mikel Merino will be out for “a few weeks” with a shoulder injury.
Arteta confirmed that midfielder Merino, who joined the Gunners from Real Sociedad earlier this week, sustained the injury in training when defender Gabriel Magalhaes fell on him.
The Spain international was in contention for Arsenal’s Premier League clash against Brighton on Saturday but will now miss out.
Arteta told a pre-match press conference: “It’s very unfortunate. Yesterday (Thursday) he had a collision and he’s got a shoulder injury and it looks like he’ll be out for a few weeks.
“It was in his first session with us. It’s really bad luck, we were all excited, everything was looking good. He landed on the floor, Gabriel fell on top of him and it looks like he has a small fracture.
“He was in so much pain, we have to see. He’ll do more tests which will have more conclusive answers.”
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola admitted the club have taken a risk by not moving to replace Julian Alvarez in the transfer market but insisted he has more than enough options in attack.
It has been a quiet summer in east Manchester with the return of Ilkay Gundogan and the signing of Savinho the only new signings, while James McAtee has joined the first-team squad after spending the last two seasons on loan at Sheffield United.
After Alvarez left for Atletico Madrid in a deal potentially worth £81million, City were linked with several forwards who might play understudy to Erling Haaland, but chose to stick with what they had in line with Guardiola’s preference for working with a small squad.
“I’m happy with the squad,” Guardiola said. “We didn’t expect Julian was leaving, although he had conversations a long time ago with other clubs and his agent, so it could happen and in the end it happened.
“We saw what we have, if we have many, many injuries it will be a problem, but in a few months Oscar Bobb will be back (from injury) and Phil (Foden) is in that position, McAtee can play in that position, Gundogan can play in that position, Bernardo…
“They are different players to Erling of course. Maybe it is a mistake, I don’t know but I don’t like leaving players without playing for a long time. When everyone is involved with a chance to play the performance of the teams is always better.
“I know the group and how serious and professional they are and their commitment in every single game. We are pretty sure it is better to wait.”
