And the hits just keep on coming. Arsenal have had two more first team players withdraw from their respective squads and return to the club — Ezri Konsa and Max Dowman. Those pair join an ever-lengthening list. Ban international breaks, IMO.
Konsa was held out of England’s match against Czechia with a minor injury problem but cleared fit to face Croatia. He played 90 minutes in the 7-0 romp but has now been sent back to Arsenal for further assessment. The aren’t many details on the injury, so hopefully
it isn’t serious. I could see it being a “you’ll play this one then go home to rest” situation. You do have to wonder about the processes that see a player held out of a match due to a minor injury, cleared fit to play an entire game, only to be sent home with a concern immediately afterwards.
Dowman returned to Arsenal “due to injury” after England’s 2-1 win over the U.S. He received a straight red card in that match, too. I’d guess (hope) his early return has a bit to do with him being ineligible to play.
The pair join Christos Tzolis and Kai Havertz, who both picked up hamstring injuries, as players that have returned early from international duty. Declan Rice withdrew from the England squad from the off. Bruno Guimaraes and Gabriel are both playing for Brazil but managing their load with reduced participation in some of the training sessions. Martin Ødegaard seems to have avoided any significant issues from the nasty kick to his ankle by Bernardo Silva.
In better news, Piero Hincapie, Ben White, and Cristhian Mosquera are all back in training and expected to be available for selection against Leeds this weekend. William Saliba is running on grass and targeting a November return to action.
