Arsenal defender William Saliba will miss pre-season and the start of the new campaign, after he was called up to the France squad for the Olympics games in Tokyo.
Saliba will join fellow Gunners defender Gabriel Magahales, who was recently called up to the Brazil squad for the games, while Gabriel Martinelli is on standby after Fluminense refused to let their forward Pedro travel.
Both players are set to miss the start of the season with the games being held from July 21 to August 7, while it raises further questions over Saliba's future as the expectation was that he would be assessed by manager Mikel Arteta in pre-season.
20-year-old Saliba joined the Gunners in 2019 from Saint-Etienne for around £30million, but has not made a single competitive appearance for the club's senior side yet after two successive loan spells.
The defender was loaned to Saint-Etienne after being signed before joining Ligue 1 rivals Nice on a temporary deal last season, where he was named as January Player of the Month in his first few weeks at the club.
Sources close to Saliba have told football.london that they are 'assessing what is best' for the defender ahead of the new season.
There remains the possibility that an obligation to buy clause could be inserted in any loan deal that is signed off by the club.
