Mikel Arteta’s first-team plans at Arsenal.The 20-year-old had been included in the initial 26-man squad for Tokyo but chose to pull-out of Sylvain Ripoll’s updated 21-man roster.Amine Gouiri, Malanga Sarr, Eduardo Camavinga and Maxence Caqueret also missed out on the squad going for gold in Japan.For Saliba, the difficult decision to turn his back on Olympics glory is motivated by a desire to break into Arsenal’s first-team, according to The Athletic.Had the Frenchman taken part in the tournament, he would have missed a significant chunk of Arsenal’s pre-season programme.The Olympics football tournament will begin on July 22nd, with the final taking place on August 7th.That could have seen Saliba miss a huge chunk of the Gunners’.
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