Arsenal injury concern for William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes is very real

Gabriel and Saliba withdrew from international duty last week (Picture: Getty)

Another international break has had Arsenal fans nervously counting the days until the domestic football season resumes.

After defeat to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final, Mikel Arteta will be desperate to get his side back on track with an FA Cup quarter-final tie against Southampton awaiting when the action returns on Saturday. They are still nine points clear at the summit of the Premier League having also booked their place in the last eight of the Champions League .

Arteta and sporting director Andrea Berta assembled perhaps the strongest squad in English football last summer to ensure injuries don’t derail their best laid plans.

But it could be happening again. The Gunners will be without the in-form Eberechi Eze for up to six weeks as a result of a calf problem with the club now also sweating over Noni Madueke, who limped out of Wembley wearing a knee brace after England’s 1-1 draw with Uruguay on Friday night.

Two of the club’s most influential figures were kept out of the firing line over the international break. Just hours after the Carabao Cup final defeat, William Saliba withdrew from the France squad due to an ankle issue . The following day, Gabriel Magalhaes pulled out of the Brazil squad with a knee injury.

It would have been much-welcomed development in north London – along with news on Saturday night that Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka were leaving the England camp without playing a minute of action. With Jurrien Timber sitting out of Netherlands games and Martin Zubimendi and Piero Hincapie also returning from duty ahead of schedule, Arsenal are now only a goalkeeper short of a full Withdrawn XI.

Sceptics will suggest Arsenal are simply pulling their players out of international duty to protect their own interests, not concerned with the plans of the likes of Didier Deschamps, Carlo Ancelotti and Thomas Tuchel as they prepare their squads for battle at the World Cup this summer. But that is unlikely to be the case.

‘I don’t think this narrative that clubs are holding players back is fair,’ Stephen Smith, CEO and founder of Kitman Labs which specialises in injury welfare and performance analytics, told Metro . I think the days of a head coach of a club demanding a player stays are probably long over.’

While a a number of players have returned to the capital, the precaution taken with Saliba and Gabriel is perhaps most noteworthy.

Any serious injury at this point of the season would of course be damaging to Arsenal’s treble hopes but would also have huge implications for a player’s World Cup aspirations. Allowing Saliba and Gabriel to remain at home to recover from their respective ankle and knee problems is a solutions that stands to benefit all parties, with the players themselves likely having the most definitive say in the matter.

Rice and Saka have also returned to their club earlier than scheduled (Picture: Getty)

‘My expectation in scenarios like this is you have management and coaching staff from the French and Brazil teams interacting with the staff at Arsenal,’ Smith continued. ‘And for as much as the international coaches want access to their players now to get eyeballs on them for the World Cup, they also want to make sure they are available for it. When there’s any doubt, those conversations will be taking place.

‘They know Arsenal have a very important run in with their coach trying to get those athletes on the pitch as often as he can. I think there is always going to be a push and pull scenario but those teams are working together to ensure the players get through the end of the domestic season and be in the best shape to join up with the World Cup parties and be competitive.

Saliba has had ankle issues earlier this season (Picture: Getty)

‘Players are much more educated and much more informed. They are aware of demands being placed on them and when they do pick up a knock, they are concerned. They will wonder, “should I be going away to play two games with my country before going right back in with my club?” Now, they can pick up the phone and talk to the head coaches to say “this is where I am at and this is the support I need”. It is not a one-way piece of dialogue.’

Arsenal have been stung before. They lost Gabriel for 10 games after he picked up a thigh injury playing for Brazil in a friendly match in November  – one that took place at their own Emirates Stadium to rub a bit of salt in the wounds.

Saliba meanwhile has had ankle issues this season, minor issues managed by the club but ones that still resulted in him missing games against Nottingham Forest back in August and Brighton in March.

Gabriel picked up a serious injury playing for Brazil in November (Picture: Getty)

‘Potential risks outweigh benefits in this scenario,’ Smith continued. ‘With Saliba’s issue, it is something Arsenal may have been managing over a period of time and they have managed it really well. We are seeing another iteration of that here, I would suspect. If it wasn’t the international break, Arsenal could have done the very same thing to protect him as we have seen them do this season.’

Saliba and Gabriel will be nailed-on starters for France and Brazil this summer and Deschamps and Ancelotti will not have learned anything new about two of the best defenders in Europe during this final break of the season. The same applies for Saka and Rice after their premature England exits.