Former Celtic star Kieran Tierney will need to remain patient for his Arsenal debut after Unai Emery ruled out an immediate return.
The left-back began full training with the Gunners this week and it prompted suggestions from fans that he could get his first taste of top team action soon.
Tierney has been out since May with a groin problem suffered at Celtic before completing his £25m switch to London.
And Emery insists there won't be any rush to get the 22-year-old back into first team action despite the Premier League giants having just one senior left-back fit.
Sead Kolasinic is all that is available to Arsenal after Nacho Monreal's move back to Spain but Tierney, and fellow injured defender Hector Bellerin, will be made to build their fitness in U23 games before getting a run out in the Premier League.
Emery said: "They are now closer to us but they need to continue working and taking training with us for their fitness and then they can feel very comfortable about coming back to play with us.
"Not yet [will they play], because it depends on their progress for the next weeks and maybe also we can decide [for them] to play at the beginning with the under-23s because maybe if they play with them they can take confidence and their rhythm and then after play with us 100 per cent.
"Really, we need to look at the next steps in each training session and also if we decide that they should play with the under-23s. But they did that week, the first time training normally with us, and we want in the next week again to take the normality in training with us.
"I think after that week we can decide how they are [in terms of] starting to play with the under-23s and with us."
