Arteta delivers Bruno fitness update, confirms Jesus isn’t training with first team
Mikel Arteta says Bruno Guimaraes has returned to training and is in contention for Monday night’s trip to Aston Villa, although Arsenal are continuing to manage his workload.
The Brazil international picked up an issue during the first half of the Community Shield and was replaced at the break by Declan Rice. The summer signing was subsequently seen icing his leg and sat out Arsenal’s Premier League opener against Coventry City.
Rumours had circulated that he could be facing several weeks on the sidelines, but Arteta allayed those fears at his pre-match press conference.
“No, we just managed the last few days with him,” Arteta said on Thursday.
“He’s been on the pitch doing training sessions, but we need to manage the load.”
In terms of other fitness updates, the boss had the following to say about long-term absentees Jurrien Timber and William Saliba: “Jurrien is progressing really well. Let’s see how he ends up this week. It’s the third week in a row that he’s been outside, and we have increased his load. So he’s on the right trajectory. If everything goes well, I think next week we can step it up again.
“Willy, it’s conservative load management right now, so that’s going to take a while.”
Arteta also confirmed that Ezri Konsa has settled in well and will be available to face his former club.
The England international only joined Arsenal from Villa six days ago but, in a twist of fate, could make his debut against the club he represented for seven years.
One player who definitely won’t be part of the travelling squad is Gabriel Jesus, with Arteta revealing the striker isn’t currently training with the senior team due to “something to do with the numbers in the squad and the way we’re managing that kind of situation individually with all the players that have some personal situations.”
The writing has been on the wall for Jesus for a while, but it now appears Arsenal are making it clear that he is surplus to requirements – in a manner more befitting Chelsea.
The indications so far this summer are that the 28-year-old would prefer to stay at the Emirates rather than accept an offer elsewhere. Napoli were said to be sniffing around, although Jesus’ wage demands are thought to be an issue.
Interestingly, Gabriel Martinelli hasn’t been frozen out in quite the same way, perhaps because he and the club are now on the same page about his future. The winger, who trained the last two days, is said to be open to joining Saudi side Al Hilal, who have spent this week negotiating with Arsenal over a permanent move.
With a deal seemingly close, we’d be surprised to see Martinelli in an Arsenal shirt again.
“That’s another personal situation that we are dealing with,” said Arteta. “I think everybody knows and recognises how much we love Gabi. And yeah, whatever the outcome is, it will be because everybody agrees to that.”
Having said last week that it was important to be honest with players when it comes to their future, Arteta confirmed that he had spoken to both Jesus and Martinelli.
“Yes, for sure. There are those conversations, and those conversations go both ways. But I’m very satisfied with how these conversations went because I know what is in each other’s hearts, and the words that come through in that conversation make me really happy.
“But it’s inevitable that at some point you need to have certain discussions and say certain things that sometimes are tough.”
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