Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has said that new signing Mikel Merino will be out of action for 'a few weeks' after suffering a shoulder injury during his first training session with the club.
Merino, a £33million arrival from Real Sociedad in Spain, had been hoping to make his Gunners debut against Brighton on Saturday.
However, he will now have to wait until late September or early October following an accidental training ground clash with Arsenal defender Gabriel.
'Yes, very unfortunate,' Arteta told reporters on Friday. 'Yesterday he had a collision and he has got a shoulder injury unfortunately. It looks like he is going to be out for a few weeks.
'First session with us. It was looking exciting, we were all very excited, everything was looking very good… he landed on the floor and Gabi went on top of him.
Midfielder Mikel Merino joined Arsenal earlier this week in £33m transfer from Real Sociedad
'It looks like he has got a small fracture probably.
'We will have to see [how long he will be out]. He was in so much pain. We have to see wait to do some more tests, then we will have more conclusive answers. This is football.'
More to follow.