Arteta explains how Odegaard has helped to transform Arsenal ‘culture’

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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has praised Martin Odegaard’s impact at the club.

Martin Odegaard has been a revelation for Arsenal since joining the club on a permanent basis in a £30 million switch from Spanish giants Real Madrid in 2021.

The Norwegian playmaker is now the Gunners’ club-captain, and one of Mikel Arteta’s most trusted and important players. What’s more, the 24-year-old just seems to be getting better and better.

In his first full season at the Emirates Stadium, as a permanent Arsenal player, Odegaard made 36 Premier League appearances, scoring seven goals and registering four assists. Last time out, the No. 8 more than doubled his numbers in terms of goal contributions, netting fifteen times and teeing up eight goals for his teammates. Odegaard has found the back of the net twice already this season.

He will be expecting to start for Arsenal in their Champions League game against PSV Eindhoven tonight.

Speaking ahead of that continental clash, Arteta has heaped praise on Odegaard. As quoted by the official Arsenal website, he said, “he is our captain and a really important player for us and a player who has developed, evolved and been on this journey with us together now for a few years.”

“He’s been instrumental in everything that we’ve done and building the culture that we wanted and recruiting the profile and the players with the right specificity to play the way we want to play and obviously then, the level that he has performed at has been in a really consistent way.”

Odegaard at the heart of Arteta’s Arsenal

Keeping Odegaard fit is vital for the Gunners this season. Whilst Kai Havertz and Fabio Vieira have both featured on the left-hand side of Arsenal’s attacking midfield duo, no one has had to deputise in Odegaard’s right-sided role, and it isn’t immediately clear who would be the best candidate to call on.

Havertz, Vieira, and Leandro Trossard are all potential options to act as back up to Odegaard, but the team would still struggle to cope in the event of the skipper’s absence.

Aside from his technical quality, the tactical importance of Odegaard can’t be overstated. Arteta relies on the 53-cap Norway international to instigate and direct the Arsenal press and be a real leader on the pitch.