Arsenal cancel preseason USA tour due to COVID-19 cases

Premier League club Arsenal won't be spending some time in the United States this summer, after all. 

David Ornstein and James McNicholas of The Athletic reported Tuesday that Arsenal have canceled their USA tour due to "a small number" of positive COVID-19 cases within members of their traveling party. The Athletic didn't say if any first-team players tested positive, but Ornstein tweeted all of the impacted individuals are asymptomatic. 

Arsenal were scheduled to head to Orlando for the Florida Cup and face Inter Milan on July 25. The winner of that match would've played against the winners of Everton and Millonarios in the Florida Cup final on July 28.

The Athletic adds Everton are still expected to travel to Florida as of Tuesday afternoon ET. 

The Athletic's Philip Buckingham noted last week the Premier League and English Football League "are in no position to force" players to get vaccinated against their wishes. 

Arsenal open the 2021-22 Premier League season versus Brentford on Aug. 13. The Gunners ended the 2020-21 campaign eighth in the league table.