Arsenal's World Cup Players Impact Pre-Season Plans

Arsenal’s summer plans are being ripped up by success on the biggest stage.

Ten of Mikel Arteta’s players have driven their countries into the World Cup quarter-finals, and the price for that progress is now clear: almost an entire core of his squad will miss the start of pre-season.

World Cup success, club headache

Only Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Magalhaes have fallen at the last-16 hurdle with Brazil. Everyone else has marched on.

William Saliba is still alive with France after a tight 1-0 win over Paraguay. Martin Odegaard has gone through with Norway, helped by Brazil’s exit. Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze, Declan Rice, and Noni Madueke are all in the last eight too, after a breathless 3-2 win over Mexico in which Saka and Rice were central to the opening goal.

Spain’s progress came via a familiar Arsenal thread. Mikel Merino scored the decisive goal against Portugal, taking David Raya and Martin Zubimendi with him into the quarters. Leandro Trossard added his own touch of class, supplying an assist as Belgium dismantled the United States.

That makes it 10 Arsenal players in the World Cup quarter-finals. All of them are expected to be absent when Arteta’s preparations begin in earnest.

Timelines that don’t bend

France are first up in the last eight, playing on July 9th. Even if Saliba’s tournament ends there, he will not be back at London Colney until at least July 31st. That is the bare minimum three-week break written into the schedule, and his recent injury problems suggest he may need more than just the minimum.

July 31st is also the day before Arsenal’s first friendly. Pre-season will already be underway by then, with early sessions designed to lay the physical and tactical groundwork. Saliba will be stepping into a moving train.

The picture is even tighter for the rest.

The other nine Arsenal internationals play their quarter-finals on July 10th and 11th. Their holidays will start later, their return dates pushed deeper into August. Any hope of a full pre-season for that group has gone.

And this is only the quarter-final stage.

Spain face Belgium, which means Merino, Raya and Zubimendi are up against Trossard. Norway play England, so Odegaard goes head-to-head with Saka, Rice, Eze and Madueke. At least two Arsenal players are guaranteed to be at the World Cup until the final weekend, with the tally rising if France, Spain or England go all the way. Those players will not just miss the start of pre-season; they will be racing the clock for match sharpness once the campaign begins.

Arteta’s early core

There is, however, another side to this. While the World Cup contingent stretches their season into mid-July, everyone already eliminated – or never called up – should be available from day one of pre-season.

That gives Arteta a very different-looking early group to work with.

• Goalkeepers Kepa Arrizabalaga, Tommy Setford
• Defenders Cristhian Mosquera, Ben White, Piero Hincapie, Gabriel Magalhaes, Jurrien Timber, Riccardo Calafiori
• Midfielders Myles Lewis-Skelly, Christian Norgaard, Fabio Vieira, Ethan Nwaneri
• Forwards Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli, Viktor Gyokeres, Reiss Nelson, Kai Havertz

Youth players such as Max Dowman and Marli Salmon are also expected to be involved, even if they sit outside the senior headline list.

It is an intriguing mix: established names like White, Jesus, Havertz and Gabriel Magalhaes; returning figures desperate for rhythm and redemption in Timber and Vieira; new faces such as Hincapie, Calafiori, Norgaard and Gyokeres; and academy talents like Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri pushing at the door.

Arteta will not have his full squad. Far from it. But he will have time and space with a tight, hungry group, many of whom need strong summers to nail down their roles.

The World Cup has taken his stars away for now. The question is whether the players left behind can use this window to change the shape of his starting XI when they all come back.