Mexico u20 boss Luis Perez says Marcelo Flores won’t be available to play for them later this month as he’s joining Arsenal for pre-season.

The Mexico u20s are currently preparing to play their 2023 u20 World Cup qualifiers, and they’ll face Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Haiti in the group stage later this month.

Arsenal’s Marcelo Flores is eligible to feature in the matches, but he’s not going to. Manager Luis Perez explains that the youngster is instead going to try and win a place in Mikel Arteta’s team.

“For us, it would be important to have him, but unfortunately for us and fortunately for him, he is going to do the pre-season with Arsenal, with his club,” Perez said.

“Hopefully he can cement his place and show that he can play in the first team. That’s why he can’t be there (with the Mexico u20s). Hopefully, he can secure a place in his club.”

Arsenal reportedly return to pre-season training on June 27th, just three days after Mexico’s final game against Haiti. So if Flores went to take part in the qualifiers, he wouldn’t have any time for a break before the start of pre-season.

Instead, the youngster is fully focusing on his club at the start of the summer.

It’s probably a sensible strategy, as the start of pre-season is often key for young players. Many of them should get chances in the early training sessions and matches, before the squad gets whittled down as pre-season progresses.

Even if Flores can’t win a place in the Arsenal squad for the upcoming campaign, pre-season will give him an opportunity to impress for a possible loan.