Ray Parlour agrees with what David Seaman has said about Martin Odegaard’s captaincy, ‘you’re exactly right’

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Arsenal legend David Seaman has given his verdict on the Martin Odegaard captaincy debate, which Ray Parlour fully agreed with.

Tony Adams recently claimed Mikel Arteta should strip Odegaard of the captain’s armband and give it to Declan Rice instead.

Adams’ opinion has stirred debate, with some agreeing with the former Arsenal captain and others completely disagreeing.

David Seaman and Ray Parlour, speaking on talkSPORT, also explained why the fundamentals of captaincy do not need to be confined to one player.

David Seaman wants Martin Odegaard to remain as skipper as Ray Parlour agrees on ‘multiple captains’ point

Seaman is firmly in the ‘Martin Odegaard in’ camp as he disagrees with both Adams and Alan Brazil, who took Mr Arsenal’s side on the subject.

When asked whether Rice would be a good captain, Seaman said: “Yeah, he would, but Odegaard’s the captain.

“So for me, there’s no need to change. If you start changing things like that, you start upsetting the squad.

“Odegaard won’t be happy for starters, but Declan’s always going to be a captain on the pitch anyway.

“Ray will tell you that when we were playing, we had about eight captains on the pitch. So for me, it doesn’t make that much of a difference.

“I know what Odegaard’s like off the pitch and he’s brilliant with being a captain, being the club captain, you know, so for me, leave it alone.

“Let’s concentrate on the football rather than the captaincy.”

Parlour fully agreed, saying: “To be fair, Dave, you’re exactly right. You’ve got to have six or seven captains all over the park.”

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What Mikel Arteta said in response to Tony Adams’ comments

Arteta’s response to Adams’ comments was pretty strong, to say the least – he said everyone at Arsenal is fully behind Odegaard remaining captain.

“Well my opinion is clear and it’s not just my opinion, it’s all the staff and especially the players,” Arteta told reporters ahead of Arsenal’s trip to Manchester United.

“I asked them to vote for the captain and I got the result yesterday and by a mile away, by a big, big 100 miles, everybody choosing the same person, which is Martin Odegaard. Which is the most clear sign that you can have.

“It’s how they feel about who has to be their captain to defend, improve and win the matches that we want to win. So I think there’s no question about that.”