Versatile Arsenal defender Piero Hincapie was forced to withdraw from the Ecuador squad after pulling up in a friendly against Morocco in Madrid on Friday
Arsenal are conducting tests on Piero Hincapie to gain further clarity on a hamstring issue sustained on international duty.
The Gunners left-back, who can also operate as a central defender, pulled up on Friday while chasing back during Ecuador’s 1-1 friendly draw against Morocco at the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid.
Hincapie immediately signalled to the bench that he was unable to continue and went to ground before lightly jogging off the pitch on 72 minutes.
The Ecuadorian Football Federation later confirmed that Hincapie, alongside team-mate Denil Castillo, underwent “medical and imaging tests” in Spain and “based on the evaluation” it was decided they would not participate in their nation’s second friendly against Holland in Eindhoven.
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Arsenal are now carrying out further scans to discover the extent of the problem or whether the 24-year-old was merely suffering from fatigue.
Last month, there was concern fellow left-back Riccardo Calafiori had strained his hamstring in the FA Cup win at Mansfield but the Italian avoided injury.
Back in January, Hincapie was forced off against Liverpool with an adductor issue but recovered quickly, returning to action 17 days later against Manchester United (he missed four matches in total).
Mikel Arteta is set to provide a big Arsenal injury update at London Colney on Friday ahead of his team’s FA Cup quarter-final tie against Southampton this weekend.
A whopping 11 Arsenal stars withdrew from international duty due to various fitness issues. Martin Zubimendi and Hincapie were the latest players to return to their club after the midfielder experienced knee discomfort while away with Spain.
Eberechi Eze and Jurrien Timber played no part in either of England’s or Holland’s international friendlies after missing the Carabao Cup final due to calf and groin issues, respectively.
William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes did not travel with France or Brazil to the United States for World Cup warm-up matches while Belgium international Leandro Trossard remained with Arsenal to preserve his fitness following a recent hip issue.
Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Noni Madueke also returned to Arsenal ahead of England’s 1-0 friendly defeat against Japan due to niggles and knocks.
Captain Martin Odegaard is stepping up his recovery from a knee issue and Norway boss Stale Solbakken claims he should be ready to feature for Arsenal in one of their upcoming matches.
He said: “I’m confident in him. He’s really going now. He’s in less and less pain. Hopefully he’ll play one of the next Arsenal games, and then it’ll go away on its own.”
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