Arteta Confirms Arsenal Squad Photo Retake After Saliba Absence

Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Arsenal will take another squad photo later in the season, after William Saliba missed the official 2026/27 picture earlier this week.

Saliba was absent when the photo was taken on Wednesday, having attended a medical appointment as he continues his recovery from a back injury. The reason for the appointment has not been confirmed.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday’s trip to Nottingham Forest, Arteta revealed the club had already been forced to cancel the shoot several times, and felt they had no choice but to go ahead this time.

He said, ‘We have tried to do the picture three times already, and we have to cancel it last minute for different reasons. We had some obligations, commercial obligations, we had people that flew over to do that. We decided to do that picture, at least.’

The Arsenal boss confirmed that a second photo will be organised once the full squad is available, adding, ‘We will have another picture with the whole family, hopefully we can get them all together at some point one day. We will announce that as well.’

Arteta was also asked whether Saliba was disappointed to miss out. He explained that the decision was out of the defender’s hands, and said Saliba had taken it in good spirits, despite receiving some light-hearted ribbing from his teammates.

‘Normally he is happy about everything!’ Arteta said. ‘He knows how loved he is and they were taking some banter, all the other players, and he is completely fine.’

The France international has been sidelined since the start of the season after suffering a back injury at the World Cup, where he was forced off early in France’s semi-final defeat to Spain. Following a series of specialist assessments over the summer, the club decided against surgery and opted for a managed rehabilitation programme instead.

There have been encouraging signs in recent weeks. Saliba has returned to grass and is carrying out individual work, and Arteta revealed in the same press conference that he will undergo another MRI scan next week to check on his progress.

‘Every sign so far has been very, very positive,’ Arteta said. ‘It will be great to have him.’

In his absence, summer signing Ezri Konsa has impressed alongside Gabriel Magalhães, and the pair look to continue their partnership as Arsenal travel to Nottingham Forest and Bayern Munich in the next week.