Arsenal defenders Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori were left out of the Gunners’ pre-season win over Bayer Leverkusen as precautions, manager Mikel Arteta has said.
Netherlands international Timber spent almost the entirety of the 2023-24 campaign out with a knee injury, while Calafiori joined on July 29 from Bologna for a fee which could rise to £42 million.
“Jurrien had a little discomfort in his foot in the last few days,” Arteta said after the 4-1 win over the reigning German champions at Emirates Stadium. “After the amount of time he’s been out, we didn’t want to take any risk with him.
“In regards to Riccardo, so much happened to him in one week. He’s come into a new environment with a different methodology and different training so we are managing him and we want to do it slowly and in the best way possible.”
A polished pre-season performance 💫 pic.twitter.com/UCHtB47jq1
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) August 7, 2024
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Calafiori Arsenal debut
Arteta said he hopes Calafiori “will be available to play some minutes” when Arsenal host Lyon on Sunday (2pm BST) in their final game before their Premier League campaign starts at home to Wolves on August 17 (3pm).
Gabriel Jesus’s performance against Leverkusen, which included a strike from distance to make the scoreline 3-0 after 38 minutes, impressed Arteta.
“The first feeling when I saw him after talking to him at the end of the season is that he was something different,” Arteta said of the forward who has not scored in a competitive game since January.
“I could sense it. His energy was different, the way he looks is different, the way he’s moving is different. He really wants it. Now it’s about finding that consistency and doing it in any context, against any opponent, any formation, any day, every three days, for 90 minutes, for 30 minutes, for 70 minutes. If you produce in those circumstances? It looks good.”
Home again. ❤️ @Arsenal pic.twitter.com/NyCApRUHH9
— Leandro Trossard (@LTrossard) August 7, 2024
Arsenal goals vs Leverkusen
Oleksandr Zinchenko put Arsenal ahead after eight minutes against Leverkusen, whose deficit doubled a minute later courtesy of Leandro Trossard.
After Jesus scored the pick of the goals, Kai Havertz netted for the second time in two friendlies to put the title hopefuls 4-0 ahead after 65 minutes.
Arteta would not be drawn on whether back-up striker Eddie Nketiah, who rarely featured during the second half of last season and was an unused substitute in nine of Arsenal’s final 12 matches, is on the verge of leaving the club.
“We cannot talk about things like that,” said Arteta. “He played some minutes today, he’s a player that has given so much. We really like him and at the moment there is nothing to discuss.”
