Arsenal midfielder Mikel Merino will reportedly be sidelined for almost two months with the shoulder injury he sustained in his first Gunners training session.
The Euro 2024 winner - a £32.6m arrival from Real Sociedad during the summer transfer window - suffered a suspected fracture in a freak accident at the Gunners' London Colney training base.
Merino engaged in a duel with Gabriel Magalhaes before the centre-back landed on him, and he was pictured with his arm in a sling at the weekend, as Arsenal drew 1-1 with Brighton & Hove Albion.
Prior to that stalemate with the Seagulls, Mikel Arteta confirmed that Merino would at least be missing for "a few weeks" with the unfortunate injury he picked up in training, but the prognosis appears to be worse than first feared.
According to the Daily Mail, the 28-year-old is expected to spend almost two months recovering from his issue, and there is virtually no chance that he will return before the October international break.
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Arsenal games Merino could miss through injury
However, the report adds that Arsenal staff are optimistic that he will return once that international window is over, although the midfielder will still be sidelined for a few crucial matches between now and then.
Arsenal's first game back after the September hiatus sees them face North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur away from home, four days before they are scheduled to travel to Atalanta BC in their first Champions League game of the new term.
The trip to the Europa League winners is sandwiched in between daunting Premier League matches at Spurs (September 15) and Manchester City (September 22), and a date also has to be found for their EFL Cup third-round tie with Bolton Wanderers.
Arteta's men then host Paris Saint-Germain on October 1, while also welcoming two newly-promoted sides Southampton and Leicester City to the Emirates before the second international break of the season.
If Merino's recovery goes according to plan, the Spaniard could make his Arsenal debut against Bournemouth (October 19) or Shakhtar Donetsk (October 22), which both serve as warm-up games for a home tie with Liverpool on October 27.
What could Arsenal's midfield look like against Tottenham?
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Merino's lengthy layoff is not the only crushing midfield blow that Arteta has been dealt over the past few days, as the Gunners will be without £105m man Declan Rice for the first North London derby of the season.
The England international was controversially sent off for two bookable offences in the draw with Brighton, picking up his second yellow for delaying the restart by tapping the ball away from Joel Veltman as the Dutchman prepared to take a free kick, taking a whack from the defender for his troubles.
Merino would have been a like-for-like replacement for Rice in that left eight role, but Arteta must find alternative solutions, one of which would simply be to promote Jorginho to the first XI as the Italian joins Thomas Partey and Martin Odegaard in the middle.
Arteta also trialled Kai Havertz in a midfield slot once again in pre-season, and such a move in the derby would allow Gabriel Jesus to start up front, assuming that the Brazilian is back from a groin injury by then.
However, Havertz is far better suited to the number nine role in this Arsenal side, and with Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly both in the embryonic stages of their careers, the experienced Jorginho should be trusted from the off in a fiery North London derby.
