Unai Emery has set a schedule for when he will speak to Granit Xhaka and the Arsenal hierarchy about the player's future.
The Swiss will miss his fourth successive game this weekend as he will not be selected to face Leicester City but could return after the upcoming international break.
With mounting injury problems and 10 games in the six weeks when club football resumes, that is when Emery has planned to discuss the 27-year-old's fate.
"After Dani Ceballos' injury we have one less midfielder to use against Leicester and now we do not have a lot of players to play in this position," the Spaniard said.
"It is important to stay without Granit Xhaka now but I don't know, maybe he can play in the future maybe he cannot. The club also knows how both of us are thinking about that circumstance.
"After the international break, I am going to speak to him again. The club is also speaking with him and we are going to decide how he is and how we are going to use him."
By the time the international break is finished, four weeks would have past since Xhaka donned an Arsenal shirt. He has trained in the meantime with Emery choosing not to select him.
Although Emery has set a schedule for the next discussion regarding the Swiss, his absence has already prompted the Spaniard to enquire about his former-captain's future.
"I asked that question (whether Xhaka will be moved on)," Emery added.
"The club knows the player's decision at the moment and my idea about the circumstances. He (Xhaka) said to me, he is not available to play yet. Not on Wednesday against Vitoria and not against Leicester.
"I am not thinking about that (if he wants to leave) because we are in November and we are going to play a lot of matches in November and December and we cannot sell him in these two months."
At the club since 2016, Xhaka has regularly split opinion among Arsenal fans. Some adore his distribution from midfield which acts as Arsenal's springboard in attack whereas others loath his ill discipline and immobility in defence which cause unnecessary fouls.
Despite Xhaka being such a divisive character in his time at the Emirates, Emery has relied upon him heavily. As well as initially allowing him to take the captaincy from Laurent Koscielny, the Spaniard played him in nine of the opening 10 Premier League matches this season.
Even after his decision to strip the Swiss of the captaincy and giving him an extended period on the sidelines, Emery is still convinced the midfielder can help Arsenal.
"For me as a coach, being responsible for the team, we need a player like Granit Xhaka," he said.
"But also, I don't know if he is going to play again. I don't know because firstly it is about if he is available in his mind to continue helping us and defending the Arsenal shirt and I think time is giving us that solution.
"Next, it is about if I decide whether he will start with us or not and if he is in the group with us.
"But it starts at if he is ready and available and is 100% in is his mind with the decision to help us and play with his quality because we know we need that quality."
