Injured Arsenal defender back at former club during break

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Cristhian Mosquera has spent the international break back in Spain, returning to former club Valencia as he continues his recovery from the injury that has kept him out of Arsenal's last few matches.

The defender has not been called up by any national team while sidelined, and that gap in the calendar has given him the chance to travel back to the club where his career began.

Mosquera returns to Valencia

According to Football London, Mosquera has visited Valencia during this international window to reconnect with the people who played a part in his development — and, significantly, to make use of the club's facilities as he works towards full fitness.

Valencia are the club that produced Mosquera and handed him his opportunity in the first team, where he established himself in Spanish football before Arsenal moved to sign him.

Using a familiar training environment while the Arsenal squad is broken up for international duty is a practical way for the centre-back to keep ticking over. His return date remains unknown, so the emphasis for now is on consistency in his rehab work rather than a fixed timeline.

Still part of Arteta's plans

Mosquera enjoyed a substantial amount of game time in his debut campaign at the Emirates and finished it as a Premier League champion, a considerable return for a first season in English football.

That level of involvement tells its own story about how Mikel Arteta views him. The Spaniard was trusted across the course of a title-winning season, and there is nothing to suggest that standing has changed while he has been unavailable.

What Mosquera wants is more of it. He is understood to be keen to play more regularly and add to the silverware already in his collection, but none of that is possible until he is cleared to return to competitive action.

For Arsenal, patience is the only realistic approach. Rushing a defender back from an injury with no confirmed return date carries obvious risk, particularly with a long season ahead across multiple competitions.

The international break has, at the very least, allowed Mosquera to do his recovery work without missing additional Arsenal fixtures — the squad is not in club action, so the timing of this phase of his rehab costs him nothing in terms of minutes.

Attention will turn to whether he can rejoin group training at London Colney once the squad reconvenes, with Arteta likely to be asked for an update on the defender's progress in the build-up to Arsenal's next fixture.