Eduardo setback hits the Gunners

The Brazil-born Croatian, recovering from a badly broken leg, had hoped to be back playing in August but Standard Sport understands he is unlikely to resume full training before the end of September.

Arsenal have carefully monitored Eduardo's recovery - physiotherapist Gary Lewin even visited him in Brazil where he has spent the summer - and the club are now hopeful he will be back in first-team action by October.

In the meantime, manager Arsene Wenger is faced with a heavily-depleted forward line which will be further damaged if the club fail to convince unsettled striker Emmanuel Adebayor to stay at Emirates Stadium.

Barcelona and AC Milan are interested in signing the Togo international but Arsenal have offered him significantly-improved contract terms on his £35,000-a-week pay deal.

Wenger held talks with Adebayor at the club's London Colney training ground yesterday before the squad left for their pre-season tour of Hungary and Austria.

During the meeting, it is understood that Adebayor failed to commit his future to the club but did not ask for a transfer either.

Wenger this week insisted the club are "very confident" of keeping Adebayor, but they are in the market for a new striker to join Nicklas Bendtner, Theo Walcott and Carlos Vela. The Gunners have so far been linked with Blackburn's Roque Santa Cruz, Zenit St Petersborg's Andrei Arshavin and Ajax's Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.

So far this summer, Wenger has only made two signings - Samir Nasri and Aaron Ramsey - but has promised at least one more significant arrival.

Eduardo suffered a double-compound fracture of the left tibia and fibula when tackled by Birmingham's Martin Taylor in February and missed the last 14 matches of the season. His absence and that of Tomas Rosicky, who missed the same 14 games because of a knee injury, was a key factor in Arsenal's disappointing end to last season.

Rosicky is due to begin training in four weeks' time after having surgery so he, too, will miss the start of the new season.

The Czech captain does not expect to be back until September which rules him out of Arsenal's opening Premier League games against West Brom, Fulham and Newcastle as well as the Champions League qualifying round.

Rosicky said: "I know I will miss the start of the season but I should be back on the field in September."