Arteta Reveals William Saliba’s Return Date And He Could Play For Arsenal Again Very Soon
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says there is a possibility that William Saliba could “play just before” the next international break.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Monday, Arteta said the defender’s rehabilitation is going well, although the club are mindful that there could be potential setbacks due to the nature of the injury:
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“It’s over a week, I think [he’s been on the grass], obviously we’re managing that load. He’s building now his capacity to good standards, and let’s see in the next few weeks if we can start to introduce him to the team to see where we are to actually make him available for the squad.”
“We’re still talking about weeks, and when that happens, it’s very different whether he would play just before or just after [the November international break] because it’s a very specific injury; the healing process, I cannot tell you exactly how he’s going to react to.”
Who do Arsenal face just before the next international break?
The Gunners face Hull City at home on November 7th, which is less than a month away. If Saliba does make the matchday squad for the game, it means he would have returned within the four-month recovery period which was initially estimated.
Saliba was forced off with a back injury during the first half of France’s World Cup semi-final against Spain on July 14th. He has subsequently missed the first 9 matches of the 2026/27 campaign, and that will become 10 after the Lille game this evening.
How many more fixtures could Saliba miss?
Arsenal have six more fixtures across all competitions before the match against Hull. That includes two Champions League ties (Lille and Slavia Prague), the Carabao Cup fourth-round clash against Fleetwood Town, as well as three Premier League games versus Nottingham Forest (a), Everton (h) and Liverpool (a).
Arteta seems to believe that the Hull fixture is a realistic target, but we shall have to wait and see how Saliba’s recovery progresses over the coming weeks.