Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard will not feature for Norway this month’s Nations League fixtures after travelling for talks with the national team’s medical staff.
The midfielder, who also captains his country, only returned to action for Arsenal last week after over two months without featuring for the club due to ankle ligament damage sustained while playing for his country. Following a brief appearance in Milan against Inter, the Arsenal skipper played the full 90 minutes against Chelsea on Sunday, assisting Gabriel Martinelli’s goal in the 1-1 draw.
Odegaard then travelled to Norway, with manager Stale Solbakken refusing to rule out his involvement in the upcoming games against Slovenia and Kazakhstan.
A statement on Tuesday, though, has seen Odegaard reveal he will not feature and is heading back to London.
“After discussions with the medical staff at the national team, we have unfortunately concluded that the situation is not good enough to play these matches.
“I’ve been through a long training period and when you haven’t practiced football in the last nine weeks, it’s natural not to be 100 per cent yet.
“I need to listen to my body, complete this rehab process and get my foot back in good shape. The hope has always been to be able to play the national matches, and if I hadn’t played on Sunday, it would have been out of the question to participate anyway.”
The news is a huge boost for Arsenal, who would have been fearing the risk of a setback for the 25-year-old.
Odegaard is the latest key player who will spend the next fortnight with the club after Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka, who were both injured in Sunday’s draw, pulled out of England duty on Monday evening.
This guy has made himself indispensable in our squad.We really need to win something before we lose some of our precious jewels.Also sensible decision.Hopefully this break has the same effect as Dubai.We need to shake off the recent slump
PHEW! And breathe….
Sanity prevails, for once. This also helps my sanity, which is nice.
In a world that too often seems devoid of sanity, it feels like a thrilling upset to see it win out for a change.
I’m honestly surprised how well I managed to lie to myself that it could be good for him for getting match fit, because I so clearly prefer this option.
Me too. Send him in for half an hour, build up his stamina. But the truth is, you can do that part–the stamina–as well in training. Match fitness–sharpness–means getting used to the rhythms of your teammates and to the pace of the Prem (with respect, Norway v Kazakhstan does little to prepare you for that).
The most Arsenal thing ever would be him getting injured in training now. 😬
OMG haha yes it would. Why does my brain even go there? To much PTSD.
Or perhaps a groin injury while making out with his missus?
Why the downvotes? Part of everyday life, no?
…because it’s a stupid comment!
during rehab specifically, as he’s running suspended on the weightless treadmill and a pigeon comes in through the window and flies into his ankle.
Just keep Big Gabi away from him
What a relief! Two weeks to get the squad closer to full fitness and make our charge.
Rice. Odegaard. Saka.
Dubai. NOW!
Thank goodness. I wonder if we threatened to sue them if he picked up another injury. 🙂
Welcome to Arseblog, my American friend.
seems like a hasty conclusion given the existence of 200 or so other countries
Sure, he could work for Man City.
The country where you get ads everyday that say: “Do you want to sue your doctor?”
Jesus
again a very tunnel vision way of looking at the world where sometimes only two countries seem to exist, “us” and “our cousins across the pond”. Just because you have an obsessive inferiority/superiority complex relationship with that country doesn’t mean there aren’t others with similar cultures on that front.
Are there any more litigatious cultures than the US?
I have no idea, because unlike apparently most people here I wouldn’t pretend to know the cultures of 200 something nations.
you can downvote me all you want, I’m not being a troll, just pointing out a pattern 🤷
I guess as one Mr. J. Nicholson once said to a T. Cruise “YOU CAANT HAANDLE THE TRUUUUHHTHTTHTHHH!!”
Hoping the club/Arteta organise a behind-closed-doors friendly during this interlull to help him get back to 100% a lot faster. You could see he was NOT fully fit Sunday past, but he still managed to make us look a lot better. In my opinion, all league games between now and Feb 1 are VERY winnable. But if we are going to have a chance, we need the skipper fully fit. Fingers crossed.
As half Norwegian 🇳🇴 I’m currently have a stern word with myself about whether this is good or bad
After the last few international breaks, finally some sense.
Feels like a massive win these days
We need Big Willie to pull out as well – from the French squad!
So he travels all the way to Norway, everyone agrees he won’t play, then he travels all the way back. You’d think they could have done this by fax or WhatsApp.
I say fair play to the Norway staff. They did a proper assessment and made a good decision.
Free flight home to have a quick med/visit family. Who wouldn’t jump at the chance.
Zoom? I do love the idea of fax tho
The most important fifa tournament ever….the nations league!
Fans need to stop attending these dogshit internationals, it’s the only way the corrupt fifa cnts will end this ridiculous tournament.
Nice to see a players health come first for once. Not Salah though I think they need him for a testimonial on the space station.
At last.. some joined up thinking, Martin, Dec & Buyako all recovering from injuries and knocks, hopefully they will all be ready and available for next run of games, Beni also who’s been a doubt lately, is Timber joining up with Holland ? Zinny could obviously do with some games, any news on Tomi, Califiorni, Tierney returns from injuries?
Looks like someone read my post about this yesterday…
It was confirmed on the Arsecast that they review all our comments after training each day, so yeah that’s probably what happened.
I thought so…
Then Dr Gooner emailed Dr Norway, and sense prevailed. Fax.
It’s a start, we just need to get the rest of the squad away from international footie next.
Thank fuck.
Some national team bosses are just ridiculous. It’s obvious that when you have a player who has just played his first 90 minutes in two months, he’s not really going to be in shape to be playing in two meaningless internationals, where there could be players from rival clubs who would quite happily brutalise him for the benefit of their club.
Not only does that piss off the people who pay his wages, it also risks another long term injury.
Now that Norway’s sending him back, I want them to take him.
Take my captain and get him to full fitness ahead of the crazy schedule we’re about to face.
Who says London Colney is safer? Someone ask Merino
Good. These interlull injuries were getting a bit Stale.