{"id":646,"date":"2026-03-30T04:59:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T04:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/?p=646"},"modified":"2026-03-30T04:59:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T04:59:49","slug":"arsenal-midfielder-becomes-11th-gunners-star-to-withdraw-from-international-squad-due-to-injury-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/?p=646","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal midfielder becomes 11th Gunners star to withdraw from international squad due to injury concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5146218\" data-slug-id=\"2759450\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/cmc-predictor\/v2\/cross-icon.png?w=40\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" alt=\"close\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Arsenal midfielder Martin Zubimendi has become the 11th Gunners star to withdraw from international duty and return to the Emirates Stadium due to injury concerns. As per the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), the 27-year-old star is facing \u2018discomfort in his right knee\u2019 and will return to the Gunners to avoid any further risk (h\/t The Athletic).<\/p>\n<p>Since joining Arsenal from Real Sociedad over the summer, Zubimendi has established himself as an integral part of their midfield, forging an excellent connection with Declan Rice. He has scored six goals and provided three assists in 44 appearances across all competitions.<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"template__newsletter-inline-banner-form-combo-widget\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<p><img id=\"subscribe-img\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Thanks for the submission!\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>Zubimendi was expected to feature for Spain in their upcoming friendly against Egypt on March 31. However, he will now return to Arsenal to recover from his reported knock. Numerous Gunners stars have picked up various knocks over the current international break, with William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Leandro Trossard, and Jurrien Timber all pulling out at the start of the break.<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>Additionally, Arsenal defender Piero Hincapie also withdrew from the Ecuador national team earlier today (March 29) due to an undisclosed injury concern. Martin Odegaard is also unavailable after picking up a knee injury against Tottenham Hotspur last month.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke, Bukayo Saka, and Declan Rice have also left the England camp, with Madueke suffering a knee injury. Eze has also been reportedly sidelined for a month due to a calf injury.<\/p>\n<p>Mikel Arteta will be hoping most of his stars are cleared of any injury concerns ahead of their upcoming fixture against Southampton in the FA Cup quarter-final (April 4).<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h2>&#8220;He is very frustrated and grumpy&#8221; &#8211; Norway boss makes honest claim about Arsenal skipper Martin Odegaard<\/h2>\n<p>Norway manager Stale Solbakken has revealed that Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has been left extremely frustrated after picking up a knee injury. This occurred during the Gunners&#8217; 4-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on February 22.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, Odegaard has missed the Gunners&#8217; last six games across all competitions, including the EFL Cup final defeat against Manchester City. He will also miss Norway&#8217;s friendlies against the Netherlands and Switzerland during the current international break.<\/p>\n<p>Solbakken recently told Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet (via <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.expressandstar.com\/uk-sports\/martin-odegaard-left-very-frustrated-and-grumpy-by-injury-blow-norway-boss-6287614\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Express &#038; Star<\/a><\/em>):<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;He is very frustrated and grumpy. He has not been involved since we beat Moldova 11-1 (in September). It is his last international match. He was not on the field against Israel, Estonia or Italy. It is clear that it hurts.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Odegaard has scored one goal and provided seven assists in 27 appearances across all competitions this season.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\" title=\"like article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\" title=\"dislike article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Thank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tag-cloud\">\n<div class=\"tags-text\">\n<div class=\"scrollable-content-holder  article-padding\">\n<p class=\"article-p  \">Quick Links<\/p>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerLeft\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Left \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-left.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button><\/p>\n<nav id=\"pnProductNav\" class=\"pn-ProductNav\">\n<\/nav>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerRight\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Right \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-right.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<p>More from Sportskeeda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Silas Sud<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arsenal midfielder Martin Zubimendi has become the 11th Gunners star to withdraw from international duty and return to the Emirates Stadium due to injury concerns. As per the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), the 27-year-old star is facing \u2018discomfort in his right knee\u2019 and will return to the Gunners to avoid any further risk (h\/t The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportings.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}