Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud will be given extra time off before returning to Arsenal training.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has confirmed he will give the likes of
Olivier Giroud and Mesut Ozil a four-week holiday to recover from the
European Championship -- meaning they are likely to miss the Gunners'
Premier League opener.
Giroud and Laurent Koscielny both reached
last Sunday's final with host nation France, while Germany's Ozil and
Wales midfielder Aaron Ramsey were eliminated in the semifinals.
And Wenger said those players will need some extra rest before being ready to play again.
"You
consider the rest time because France had a long, long go and I believe
that they need four weeks' holiday because they need to recover from
that," Wenger told the Arsenal website.
"It takes you two or three
weeks to regenerate. So overall I believe that most of them we are
giving four weeks holiday to recover completely, and they need to come
back with hunger. That disappointment to lose a final, it takes some
time to recover from that."
For Giroud and Koscielny, that would
mean reporting back to training on Aug. 8 -- just six days before
Arsenal hosts Liverpool in their first Premier League match of the
season.
As Arsenal are traveling to Scandinavia for preseason
games the previous Friday, Ozil is unlikely to be back before then as
well.
With Alexis Sanchez still nursing an ankle injury after helping Chile
win the Copa America in June, it could leave Wenger very short on
attacking options unless he manages to sign a new striker in the
transfer window.
And while the international tournaments may
affect his own team's start to the season, Wenger said he was pleased to
see his players do well.
"Apart from England -- who of course
came out a bit early -- some players had a very positive experience,
like Aaron Ramsey with Wales, Alexis with Chile -- they won again the
Copa America so that's of course a fantastic achievement because they
were away from home this time.
"The French players, Giroud and Koscielny, had a good tournament [even if] they didn't finish as well as they hoped.
"I
think Ozil had a good tournament as well. I met him after the game with
France, he was of course very disappointed but most of them had good
performances."
England's early exit meant Jack Wilshere was back in training on Friday, along with Costa Rica's Joel Campbell.
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