‘It’s part of the narrative’ – Arteta responds to criticism of him and Arsenal for players withdrawing from national team duty | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta pointed to the number of players Arsenal have had injured on national team duty, when asked about the criticism towards him and the club for the number of players who pulled out of their national squads during the recent international break.

Gabriel, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Piero Hincapie, Martin Zubimendi and William Saliba were among those to withdraw from their respective national team squads either before or during their camps.

“I think it’s part of the narrative, but I understand that,” Arteta said when asked about the criticism towards the number of players who pulled out of national team squads.

“I hope it’s been the same when we had a lot of players from the national team injured in the past.The same emphasis, because then it’s a fair comment, so it’s fine. 

“Let’s see who is available and not tomorrow, and maybe we have to change the narrative.”

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Asked if he considers his players’ national team hopes and the World Cup in his own team selections as the tournament approaches, Arteta responded: “Everything is in consideration. 

“I think we need to commit to the moment, and the moment here is Arsenal and the moment they are with the national team is the national team.

“Something that happens in between, you cannot be thinking about that because your duty, your obligation is to perform in wherever you are in that moment and that’s what we expect from all the players.”

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