Arsenal may still head to the Middle East for a winter training camp, but head coach Mikel Arteta has confirmed security will be the priority behind any decision.
The Gunners, like other Premier League clubs, are due to have a mid-season break in February that would see them without a game for 14 days.
Top-flight sides are expected to use that time to head away for some warm-weather training, but Manchester United have scrapped plans to head to Middle East due to fears over tensions in the region.
United have been frequent visitors to the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex in Dubai in recent years, and were looking to use the upcoming winter break in the Premier League for a mid-season getaway.
Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, however, has confirmed those plans have now been shelved in the wake of the United States’ assassination of Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani.
Arsenal have also visited Dubai in the past and is understood to still be an option for the club, but Arteta has added that security will eventually dictate where the squad end up going.
“We talked about different options in this break to go away and live together a bit in a different environment with better weather conditions and a little bit away from here,” he said.
“We still have a few things to look after from a club perspective and when we know all that we will confirm what we are doing. But at the moment we have two or three different options.
“The security decision will be the priority. If we are advised by the club and the people making those decisions that it’s not safe we won’t be going anywhere.
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