£38m Arsenal defender is now ‘struggling’ through injury in a fresh blow for Mikel Arteta

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Arsenal will be taking on Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday night in their penultimate friendly of the summer.

It is now just over a week until Arsenal will welcome Wolves for their Premier League season opener with the title on their mind.

Mikel Arteta‘s side will be raring to go having missed out on the title by just two points last season.

The Gunners will be looking to finally overturn Manchester City at the top of the table and they have one new recruit in Riccardo Calafiori to help with that.

However, Arteta may already have been hit with one significant issue leading into the new campaign with one of the players struggling through injury already.

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Arsenal have already suffered an injury blow

Just as the excitement was growing ahead of the new campaign, the injury curse has struck with one of Arsenal’s important players being hit by it.

It has been a solid summer for the Gunners with Arteta not having a huge deal of work to do with his players on the back of a seriously impressive 202324 season.

However, it it those fine margins that clubs need to swing in their favour if they are going to get their hands on a title.

And it seems as if the first piece of bad luck this summer may have gone against Arsenal who are now carrying an injury member of their first team.

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With the Gunners heading back to the Emirates this afternoon, it was claimed by a fan that Jurrien Timber was not spotted getting on the team bus.

And in response to the post on social media, journalist Gary Jacob replied claiming the Dutchman was struggling through an injury.

“Timber has been struggling with a load-bearing injury,” he said.

This is hardly the preparation Timber needed ahead of the new campaign.

Jurrien Timber has excelled in Arsenal pre-season

After missing the large majority of the 2023/24 campaign through injury, this summer has offered Timber with the opportunity to really get his fitness back.

And he is said to have impressed during the pre-season tour of the United States prior to the arrival of Calafiori.

Timber was even expected to be handed an important role by Arsenal for the upcoming season.

But this new setback is going to be a real concern for those at Arsenal, even if it is not a serious injury, it is far from comforting given the £38m defender’s recent issue.