Arsenal arrivals imminent this week as Mikel Arteta handed new five-man boost | OneFootball

Gunners have travelled to Spain for pre-season training camp and face Girona in friendly

The Gunners played MK Dons on Saturday in a behind-closed-doors friendly at the Sobha Realty Training Centre.

Mikel Arteta's side won that match 3-0, with new signing Christos Tzolis registering an assist on debut and the goals coming from Reiss Nelson, Ethan Nwaneri and Ceadach O'Neil.

The travelling squad was strengthened by the returns of Kai Havertz, Piero Hincapie and Viktor Gyokeres.

The trio were given three weeks off following their respective exits from the World Cup and so were not involved in the first week of pre-season.

However, they have now returned and flew with their team-mates to Spain ahead of the fixture against Girona on Saturday (August 1).

Havertz was training last week at his former club Bayer Leverkusen's facilities to step up his fitness and ensure he was ready to hit the ground running for the Gunners.

Gabriel and Martinelli were not with the group that travelled over the weekend.

They both featured for Brazil at the World Cup and were knocked out at the last-16 stage by Norway on July 5.

The decision was made that they did not need to return in time to fly out with the rest of their team-mates.

Instead, they will join up with the squad later this week ahead of the pre-season opener.

Their fitness will be assessed on their return but they are unlikely to play a significant role at the Estadi Montilivi.

Ben White and Jurrien Timber were both on the flight to Spain but Arsenal will continue to be cautious with their fitness.

White has recovered from the knee injury that ended his 2025/26 season prematurely and trained over the last couple of weeks, first at a mini-camp in Marbella and then last week at London Colney.

However, he did not feature against MK Dons on Saturday as Arsenal manage his return. Instead it was 19-year-old Louie Copley starting at right-back.

Timber underwent minor surgery on a groin issue over the summer. He is still completing his rehabilitation but it is hoped he will play some part in pre-season.

Arsenal are set to be without their players that made it to the final weekend of the World Cup until later in August.