Czech Republic manager Pavel Vrba is convinced Tomas Rosicky’s injury troubles are behind him, for now, after he named the 35-year-old in his preliminary squad for Euro 2016.
Rosicky was one of two Arsenal players to make the 28-man selection and will be joined at the team’s training camp by goalkeeper Petr Cech.
After a string of injuries over a 10-year career Rosicky will depart the Emirates in the summer, having managed just six minutes of first-team action this season. A January FA Cup tie with Burnley was the midfielder’s only appearance of the campaign, and it swiftly ended in heartbreaking fashion as he limped off moments after coming on as a substitute.
Since then Rosicky has appeared in three Under-21 matches for Arsenal, completing 90 minutes in a 2-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers in early May.
Though Arsene Wenger left the 100-cap Czech stalwart out of the side for the final game of the season against Aston Villa, which could have been his last appearance in an Arsenal shirt, Vrba has seen enough to convince that the one-time captain will be fit for the Euros.
“As you know, I was in England about two weeks ago to see how Tomas was health-wise,” he said. “I came away content because Tomas played a whole game without any interruption.
“After those two weeks, he is still 100 percent fit and has not had to recover. From that point of view I do not see why he should not be fit for the European Championships.”
Rosicky is yet to decide whether he will extend his career beyond the Euros, though his former club Sparta Prague have already made clear that they would consider offering him a deal on his departure from Arsenal.
CZECH REPUBLIC SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Petr Cech (Arsenal), Tomas Vaclik (Basel), Tomas Koubek (Slovan Liberec)
Defenders: Theodor Gebre Selassie (Werder Bremen), Roman Hubnik (Viktoria Plzen), Pavel Kaderabek (Hoffenheim), Michal Kadlec (Sparta Prague), David Limbersky (Viktoria Plzen), Daniel Pudil (Sheffield Wednesday), Tomas Sivok (Bursaspor), Marek Suchy (Basel), Ondrej Zahustel (Sparta Prague)
Midfielders: Vladimir Darida (Hertha Berlin), Borek Dockal (Sparta Prague), Daniel Kolar (Viktoria Plzen), Jan Kovarik (Viktoria Plzen), Ladislav Krejci (Sparta Prague), Lukas Marecek (Sparta Prague), David Pavelka (Kasimpasa), Jaroslav Plasil (Bordeaux), Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal), Jiri Skalak (Brighton), Josef Sural (Sparta Prague)
Forwards: David Lafata (Sparta Prague), Tomas Necid (Bursaspor), Patrik Schick (Bohemians Prague), Milan Skoda (Slavia Prague), Matej Vydra (Reading)
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