Norway manager Stale Solbakken says he expects Martin Odegaard to join up with his countrymen at some point during the Interlull but he’s unsure whether the midfielder will be fit enough to feature in Nations League matches with Slovenia and Serbia.
The Arsenal captain picked up an injury in training last week and missed the 3-0 win over Brentford. Ahead of the match, Mikel Arteta wouldn’t be drawn on the specifics of the problem or a timeline for his return but he was thankful for the arrival of a break in the domestic calendar.
Despite the injury, Odegaard was still selected by Norway and they sound keen to have him around the camp even if he’s just there to help in a coaching capacity.
“We are in regular dialogue with him and (Mikel) Arteta and Arsenal’s health sector, as it is called in Danish. Nothing has been decided there, so there is still hope,” Solbakken told TV2.
“They are the ones who have had ‘hands on him’ up until now, and they are in dialogue. He’s not doing well now.
“Now it’s a matter of getting a final decision on whether he can be in both or one game. We’ll certainly see him in Norway, either as a player or a ‘fourth coach’. It means a lot to have him.”
No doubt Arsenal will make it clear that the player’s rehabilitation has to come first, especially with the north London derby 11 days. There’s also a doubleheader with homeland side Bodo/Glimt on the horizon which he won’t want to miss.
The midfielder will benefit from a break over the winter as his country did not qualify for Qatar 2022.
They need as a Fourth Coach no doubt. Anything other than that would not be welcomed – he needs to heal during the interlull.
With Haaland on your team, 10 randoms from this board should suffice, no need to risk Odegaard!
Can’t blame them, for Denmark he could be the difference between getting a result or not. I would of even said the same for us before watching Vieira’s full debut.
On that note, Vieira’s looking like a very important signing for us, we knew we had Smith-Rowe as cover for that position but with Vieira we don’t seem to lose the creativity. All the faith in Edu and co.
He’s Norweigen
Haha my bad 🤭
Ståle Solbakken was a coach for several years in Denmark with FCK and has lived there for more than a decade so that’s why he made a referance in Danish😄
Stale comments but we need to keep Odegaard fresh.
Let’s just hope that they don’t take risks with him, or we’ll be counting the cost.
Obviously depending on what exactly is wrong, having him play 45 minutes in one of their matches might be just what we need. Also, truthfully I wouldn’t mind seeing one of the best playmakers in the world setting up one of the best (the best?) goalscorers in the world.
We all want him to succeed, we’d my h rather promote from within the club than form out large sums for other clubs players.
Frontline reserve of Jesus, Nketiah and Balogun doesn’t sound too bad I must say.
At least the Norwegian coach sounds reasonable, the Scottish prat was going on about how Arsenal needs to trust them with their player and basically he’ll do what the hell he likes, which could be every minute of three games again. If Tierney comes back broken it won’t be a surprise.
Joining in training just to give an innocent but reckless studs-up challenge on Haaland might help us out in the title race.