Martin Odegaard says Per Mertesacker still does one surprising thing at Arsenal’s training ground

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A number of former Arsenal stars are still involved at the club.

Of course, Mikel Arteta is now the manager at the Emirates Stadium. Meanwhile, Edu is Arsenal’s sporting director, Jack Wilshere is in charge of the under-18s side, and Per Mertesacker oversees the academy. 

This quartet all once plied their trade for the Gunners during their playing days. This means that they have a real connection with the club, understand its inner workings, and know what the fans demand and expect.

In his role as the director of the Hale End academy, Mertesacker has a huge influence on the upcoming generation of Arsenal talents. The likes of Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly, who now seem to be on the verge of a first team breakthrough, are products of this system.

The former centre-back will be doing all he can to ensure that the teenagers are ready to make the step up to senior level. Mertesacker has praised Nwaneri in the past, and it certainly reflects well on the German that the 17-year-old already seems mature enough to handle the demands of first team football. 

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Martin Odegaard reveals Per Mertesacker involvement in Arsenal training

Club captain Martin Odegaard has a part to play in helping youngsters make this transition too. As a leader in the first team group, he will take responsibility for helping any new faces to integrate. On top of that, Odegaard has personally mentored Nwaneri in the past.

From this, it can be assumed that the Norwegian playmaker and Mertesacker have a personal relationship.

In an interview on the club’s official website, Odegaard recently provided an insight into how the former defender conducts himself at the club’s training ground.

He said: “We see him at the training ground, and have lunch sometimes, and sometimes he’s even training there with us, in the drills, and shouting, and you can tell that he was a leader on the pitch.”

Mikel Arteta’s stars can learn from Per Mertesacker

Arteta presumably welcomes his former teammate’s presence in training, and the club’s current defenders could certainly learn from Mertesacker, who was an expert in reading the game in his own playing days.

However, it is somewhat surprising to learn that the 39-year-old still gets involved on the training pitch, as by the end of his playing career he had made it clear that playing the game had lost its allure for him, as reported by Sky Sports.