Arsenal have learned badly from Mikel Merino’s injury

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Arsenal have learned badly from Mikel Merino’s injury

New Arsenal midfielder Mikel Merino is expected to miss the next two months with a broken shoulder suffered in his first training session.

The Gunners made a deal worth up to £31.6m for 28-year-old Merino but were rocked on the eve of his debut with the revelation that a bad fall in training had left the midfielder with a shoulder injury.

Now, i Daily Mail State Merino will spend the next two months on the sidelines and is not expected to return to action until after the October international break.

Merino himself previously admitted he did not know how long he would be sidelined after a training ground collision with Gabriel Magalhaes, which manager Mikel Arteta revealed left him in “extreme pain”.

“He had an incident and continued to play – and train,” continued Arteta. “And one time we were watching him and thought he didn’t look good. That shows how much he wanted it and he didn’t want to accept that it was happening at the time. But that’s what happened.”

It’s a long-term concern for Arsenal but there are more immediate issues to deal with as Declan Rice will now serve a one-match ban for his controversial sending-off in the draw with Brighton & Hove Albion.

After Fabio Vieira’s loan from Porto, Arsenal now have three top midfielders: Thomas Partey, Jorginho and Martin Odegaard. Kai Havertz, who has been effective as a striker in recent months, started his Arsenal career in midfield and could drop back to help if needed.