Arsenal and FC Nantes have officially confirmed that Marquinhos is terminating his loan spell early and returning to his parent club in January.

Arsenal posted on Friday to confirm that Marquinhos has been recalled from his loan spell to Ligue 1 side FC Nantes.

Marquinhos had initially been sent out on loan for the entire season, but the two clubs have agreed to end the move early.

L’Equipe had broken the news on Friday that Marquinhos was about to terminate his loan.

Marquinhos hadn’t featured regularly for the Ligue 1 side, and L’Equipe claimed Nantes didn’t want to release him for the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament – which kicks off later this month.

In December, Brazil confirmed their u23 squad for the tournament, with Marquinhos making the list.

The tournament is a qualifier for the summer Olympics, with Brazil initially playing in a group alongside Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, and Ecuador.

Each team will play the others once, with the top-two teams qualifying for a second group stage of four teams.

The two teams that finish in the top two in the second stage will then qualify for the Olympics.

The tournament kicks off on January 20th, lasting until at least February 1st. If Brazil make it to the second group stage, they’ll be playing matches until February 11th.

That would have meant another four weeks away from Nantes, with Marquinhos already having taken time off to win the Pan American Games with Brazil in November.

Marquinhos didn’t play a match for Nantes for two months around the games, only recently returning to make a few substitute appearances.

It seems his latest call-up by Brazil was the final straw for Nantes, and the winger has now been recalled so he can feature in the international tournament qualifiers.