Arsenal have been handed yet another injury headache after Marli Salmon withdrew from the England Under-18 squad.

The highly-rated 17-year-old, now a regular in Mikel Arteta’s first-team, was named to Will Antwi’s squad for upcoming matches against Italy, France and Germany, but has pulled out, citing injury. Chelsea’s Gabriel Sambou has been called up in his place.

The nature or severity of his injury is not clear.

It is a disappointing setback for Salmon, who has made a positive start to the new campaign. He played 90 minutes as Arsenal eased past Ipswich in the Carabao Cup last week, his only first-team involvement of the new season, and has also featured regularly in the Premier League 2.

Salmon’s issue comes mere hours after his Arsenal team-mate Declan Rice dropped out of England’s senior squad, mimicking the likes of Kobbie Mainoo, Marcus Rashford and Cole Palmer. Rice’s decision not to participate is thought to be down to load management.

Piero Hincapie was not called up by Ecuador, also owing to fitness problems. Already on the treatment table are Ben White, Cristhian Mosquera and William Saliba.

Arteta will hope to have close to a full complement available when his side reconvenes in three weeks time, with tricky matches against Leeds and Bayern Munich looming large.

Arteta, who is expected to sign a new contract in the coming weeks, spoke highly of Arsenal’s youngsters after Salmon, Max Dowman, Theo Julienne and Ife Ibrahim all impressed in the defeat of Ipswich.

“A joy to have (Dowman), Marli as well, a 16-year-old, to play at the level with the physicality they have and to be able to handle that level, it's remarkable,” he said.