We all know that a complete and full pre-season is one of the keys to a great campaign, but with a summer filled with international tournaments, who will miss not only pre-season, but the start of the season which is upon us in just under one month?

Arsene Wenger has said that players need a four-week break. On that basis, the players listed below could miss out on the start of the season against Liverpool on 14^th August.

“You consider the rest time because France had a long, long go and I believe that they need four weeks’ holiday because they need to recover from that,” Wenger told Arsenal Player.

“It takes you two or three weeks to regenerate… to recover completely, and they need to come back with hunger. That disappointment to lose a final, it takes some time to recover from that.”

Definitely missing start:

Serge Gnabry

The German youngster, who hasn’t featured near the first team after a knee injury and then a pointless loan spell with West Brom, will be at the Olympics with Germany and will not

Takuma Asano

Arsenal’s new young Japanese striker will also be at the Olympics but as no-one is expecting him to be included in the first team any way, nobody really cares.

Might miss start:

Alexis Sanchez

Alexis played in the Copa America final on 26^th June, putting his four weeks at 24^th July, but doubts hang over him because of the ankle injury he picked up during that final. The latest update, however, seems positive.

Probably won’t miss start:

Aaron Ramsey

Last game 6^th July, four weeks date 3^rd August return to training.

Mesut Ozil

Last game 7th July, four weeks date 4th August return to training.

Laurent Koscielny

Last game 10^th July, four weeks date 7^th August return to training.

Olivier Giroud

Last game 10^th July, four weeks date 7^th August return to training.

Wenger also doesn’t feel that the disappointment suffered at the Euros by a variety of players will impact them when they return to Arsenal.

“I believe the club benefits from [our players’] experiences at the top level, and the mental experiences as well that they have gone through with such a huge pressure. Of course in the longer term you benefit from that,” Wenger added.

“Apart from England – who of course came out a bit early – some players had a very positive experience, like Aaron Ramsey with Wales, Alexis with Chile – they won again the Copa America so that’s of course a fantastic achievement because they were away from home this time.

“The French players, Giroud and Koscielny, had a good tournament [even if] they didn’t finish as well as they hoped.

“I think Ozil had a good tournament as well. I met him after the game with France, he was of course very disappointed but most of them had good performances.”