ARSENAL ace Reiss Nelson will miss Feyenoord‘s clash with PSV on Sunday with his lack of fitness ‘difficult to explain’.
The 21-year-old is yet to make his debut three weeks after joining the Dutch club on loan.
The England U21 international made just nine appearances in all competitions for the Gunners last season and will be desperate for more first team football this time out.
But his start to life in the Netherlands has not been plain sailing, with Feyenoord boss Arne Slot leaving him out of the squad for their Europa Conference League game against Maccabi Haifa on Tuesday.
Slot, 42, explained: “Nelson had participated in almost all training sessions at Arsenal, but he experiences the training sessions here as a bit more spicy.
“He ran into an overload injury and so he is not here. Whether he will make it to PSV remains to be seen.”
Feyenoord’s clash against league leaders PSV will be their first league match since Nelson joined the club, but Slot has revealed that the Arsenal loanee is still short of fitness and will not be involved.
The boss said: “No, he is not there, it is quite difficult to explain. I have asked the medical staff if that is easy, but that does not seem to be easy.
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“The bottom line is that he is in good condition, but that is different from playing matches and a certain kind of training.
“At Arsenal, he was part of the selection, but there they did a lot of eleven-on-eleven and he belonged to the team that had to imitate the opponent. Then you have to walk a bit like the coach wants you to walk.
“He has not played any matches. The intensity of our exercises may have happened there, but he was not there.”
Nelson had forced his way into the Arsenal team under Unai Emery in the 2019-20 season, but when the Spaniard was eventually replaced by Mikel Arteta he found his first-team opportunities limited.
He was involved in Arsenal’s pre-season, starting in a shock 2-1 loss to Hibernian before coming off the bench against Rangers in a 2-2 draw and again in a 1-0 defeat to Spurs.
Nelson also came off the bench in Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat to Prem new boys Brentford on the opening day of the new Premier League season.
But was unable to convince boss Arteta that he was deserving of a bigger role at the Emirates this season and was shipped out on loan.
The 21-year-old was also linked with loan moves to Patrick Vieira’s Crystal Palace and Brighton, but ultimately ended up at Feyenoord.
Nelson had a successful loan-spell at Bundesliga club Hoffenheim in the 2018-19 season, where he scored seven goals in 23 league games.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
