Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has broken his silence after one of his players suffered an injury.
The Gunners have flown out to the United States for their pre-season tour. They will play three games stateside, with the first one set to kick off in the early hours of Thursday against Bournemouth.
The Premier League runners-up will then face Manchester United and Liverpool in what will both be huge games. It will be a great watch for the fans ahead of the start of the new season.
Arsenal supporters are looking forward to seeing their heroes in action in the coming days, but one player will definitely not take part due to an injury.
Mikel Arteta shares what happened to Arsenal star Takehiro Tomiyasu Arsenal signed Takehiro Tomiyasu from Bologna in the summer of 2021 in a PS20 million deal (Daily Mail).
The Japan international became an instant fan favourite at the Emirates Stadium. He is adored by Arsenal supporters and he has produced a few excellent performances for them as well.
However, injuries have been really cruel to Tomiyasu over the years.
Since joining Arsenal in 2021, the versatile defender has missed a total of 40 games for club and country due to four different injury issues.
Arteta, however, kept his faith in Tomiyasu and handed him a brand new contract in March this year, but unfortunately, he has been sidelined again.
Ahead of Arsenal's pre-season tour to the USA, Tomiyasu suffered a knee injury that has forced him to stay back in North London.
Arteta, who appears shocked that the defender has suffered yet another problem, has described the setback as 'unbelievable' and confirmed that he doesn't know how severe the injury is.
The Arsenal boss said, as per Arsenal.com: "It is unbelievable because the kid works so hard. He had an incident in training this week and we don't know yet the extent of that [knee] injury but as a precaution, we kept him [in England].
"We'll see what happens."
The Japan international claimed that he was 'sick' of getting injured the last time he was sidelined, and the new injury issue must be really tough for him.
It is definitely a blow for Arsenal too because Tomiyasu gives Arteta options across the backline - he can play in every single defensive position.
However, Arsenal are much better prepared to deal with Tomiyasu being unavailable.
Jurrien Timber provides cover for Ben White at right-back, while Oleksandr Zinchenko and Jakub Kiwior are both still at the club on the opposite side.
Riccardo Calafiori is closing in on a move to Arsenal, and he will offer more depth to Arsenal's backline, which is good news.
However, Arsenal may have to make a tough decision on Tomiyasu - he is a phenomenal player but his injury issues have made him unreliable in recent years.
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