Mikel Arteta has confirmed that William Saliba has been back training individually for over a week, but he wouldn’t put a specific timeline on the defender’s return.
Reports broke on Monday morning that William Saliba was involved in training at Arsenal’s London Colney training ground, though it was clarified that the centre-back is only taking part in individual sessions right now.
Saliba hasn’t been in action on the pitch since July 14th, now three months ago, and Monday’s training session was the first time members of the public had seen him out working on the grass again.
Mikel Arteta was inevitably asked about Saliba’s recovery in his subsequent press conference, and he revealed that the defender has actually been out there training individually for over a week.
“Now it’s over a week I think, obviously we’re managing that load and how many repetitions and sessions in a row he can do,” Arteta said.
“But he’s building his capacity to good standards now, and let’s see in the next few weeks if we can start to introduce him with the team to see where we are to actually make him available for the squad.
“I don’t know (if he’ll be back after the November international break). We’re still talking about weeks, and when that happens, it’s very different whether he would play just before or after that. It’s a very specific injury and the healing process, I cannot tell you exactly how he’s going to react to.”
There have been mixed reports on when exactly Saliba will be back available for selection, with some claiming November, and others still sticking to a December comeback.
Perhaps Saliba’s involvement in individual training at this point in mid-October makes a November return slightly more possible. But Arsenal will be very cautious, and an inclusion in individual training doesn’t necessarily mean full squad training sessions will quickly follow.
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