Reliable Journalist Reveals That Arsenal Star’s Injury Layoff Will Extend To 5 Months
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Arsenal centre-back William Saliba is unlikely to make his comeback before December, according to RMC Sport reporter Fabrice Hawkins.
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The journalist is very reliable when it comes to stories involving French players, and he posted an injury update on X about Saliba yesterday:
“William Saliba could make his return to competition in December if all goes well. Arsenal’s defender is currently continuing his recovery following his back fracture.”
The initial estimates were that Saliba would be out for 5 months, and it seems that timeframe was accurate.
Saliba is still resting up
There have been no pictures of the 25-year-old in the gym or doing any other form of rehabilitation, which already indicated that his return was pretty far off.
Manager Mikel Arteta has been keen to emphasise that Saliba needed time to recuperate to ensure that the back injury healed properly. Coming back too early would have risked a setback and an even lengthier layoff.
Manchester United’s Matthijs de Ligt suffered a back injury in late November last year, and he has only started training again in the last few weeks, so Arsenal’s medical team are wise to be careful with Saliba.
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How many more Arsenal matches could he miss?
For argument’s sake, we will assume that Saliba will be back available for the first fixture in December, and that would mean he will be sidelined for another 12 games in total.
There are seven league matches against Leeds United, Nottingham Forest, Everton, Liverpool, Hull City, Newcastle United and Manchester City during that period.
Saliba will be missing for the Champions League group games against Lille, Bayern Munich, Slavia Prague and Borussia Dortmund as well. The Carabao Cup fourth-round tie against Fleetwood Town is also scheduled for October 27th.