Mikel Merino was spotted at Arsenal’s match against Brighton wearing a sling, amid reports that he’ll be out for at least six weeks.

Arsenal summer signing Mikel Merino only managed one training session with his new team before picking up a freak injury in an unfortunate collision with a teammate.

Mikel Arteta confirmed the news in his press conference ahead of Arsenal’s weekend fixture against Brighton, admitting that Merino would be out for “a few weeks”. He added the worrying update that the injury looked like “a small fracture”.

The Athletic have since reported that if such a fracture is confirmed, Merino is likely to be out for at least six weeks.

The midfielder was then spotted wearing a sling at the Arsenal-Brighton game on Saturday.

The sling doesn’t tell us much that we don’t already know, it’s an understandable precaution for a shoulder injury. On the positive side, it’s encouraging to see Merino in attendance for the matches as he settles in.

Merino picked up the injury in one of his first training sessions with Arsenal, colliding with a teammate as he landed.

If a six-week absence is confirmed, Merino will miss matches against Brighton, Spurs, Manchester City, Leicester City, and Southampton, as well as two Champions League fixtures and the League Cup third round.

Merino’s injury history is generally encouraging, with only 47 games missed for club and country since his debut in 2014/15. That’s an average of four or five matches per campaign.

This is also the first time the 28-year-old has suffered a shoulder injury, so there’s no history of issues there.