Premier League clubs’ pre-season tours have reached something of an identity crisis.
Money-spinning friendlies in North America or the Far East offer a rare opportunity for some of a club’s more far-flung fans to watch their favourite players.
But at the same time, with games often coming within a fortnight of the big Premier League kick-off, clubs need to be economical when it comes to interrupting first-teamers’ training programmes.
Too few minutes and they won’t be match-fit for the weekend of August 13; too few and they can risk injuries that keep them out of action when the opening game rolls around.
Jack wilshere nearly made it all the way through pre season without getting injured 🙈#arsenal
— Aarron Williams (@aarron_williams) August 6, 2015
Arsenal have a balance to strike for their meeting with the MLS All Star XI in San Jose.
The opponents are in the middle of their domestic season and boast big names such as Kaka and David Villa, while the Gunners are just setting up for the new campaign.
They’ve left out the likes of Olivier Giroud, Mesut Özil and Aaron Ramsey after their Euro 2016 exploits, while Alexis Sanchez won’t be rushed back after winning the Copa America Centenario with Chile.
But they’ve found a way to ensure the fans in California get what they want. No, not new signings Granit Xhaka and Rob Holding (although they’ll both be there too) – we’re talking about American prodigy Gedion Zelalem.
And here's who you can expect to see at #ArsenalUSA! pic.twitter.com/5rQeQOoh0s
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 25, 2016
If we know anything about American fans, it’s that they’ll get hugely excited when one of their own breaks through at a European club.
It happened with Christian Pulisic at Borussia Dortmund and Julian Green at Bayern Munich (okay, that one hasn’t worked out so well yet), so it’s no wonder Zelalem’s presence has been met with fevered anticipation.
Looking forward to seeing the Gunners in San Jose next week, especially Zelalem.
— Chris Lopez (@1CAvsfann) July 22, 2016
Lookin fwd to seein Zelalem. Hope my dood gets a lot of time in L.A.
— Megachannel (@Megachannel) July 23, 2016
Really strong squad. Hope the future of the #USMNT, Zelalem gets some good PT. Also excited to see Rob Holding! #AFC https://t.co/GDG66e7w5q
— Isaac Oyer (@isaacisaginger) July 25, 2016
For real, I cannot wait to see a USMNT midfield pairing of Zelalem/Hyndman.
— US Soccer Feed (@ussoccerfeed) July 22, 2016
The German born teenager might have only made two first-team appearances for the Gunners, but a good showing on July 28 is likely to increase calls for Jürgen Klinsmann to give the former Rangers loanee his full international debut.
Luckily, Arsenal fans aren’t the type to invest too much into pre-season goings-on, right? Right?
