‘Absolutely phenomenal’: Mikel Arteta utterly blown away by 23-year-old Arsenal player

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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has waxed lyrical about Gunners midfielder Martin Odegaard, as reported by The Athletic.

The Arsenal boss has confirmed that the club will announce their new captain “pretty soon”, with Odegaard the frontrunner.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang began last season as Gunners captain, but Arteta stripped him of the armband.

Alexandre Lacazette took over until the end of the season, but he left for Lyon after his Arsenal contract expired.

The Gunners’ last three permanent captains were all stripped of the armband.

Laurent Koscielny wanted to leave. Granit Xhaka had his problems with sections of the fanbase. And Aubameyang’s disciplinary issues cost him his role.

“It’s been a topic that has been discussed a lot, especially externally. And that didn’t help,” The Athletic quotes Arteta as saying.

“Obviously, it’s not been very consistent and with a lot of behavioural problems within those groups.

“That is something we want to resolve, do it naturally and bring a really strong leadership within the team.”

“A lot of qualities that we want as a captain”

Odegaard, 23, captained Arsenal when they beat Everton 2-0 in their last friendly.

When Arteta was asked about whether the Norway skipper could be his new captain, he said: “The captaincy is going to be decided pretty soon.

“I wanted to see how everybody is integrating, the new boys, the ones that come from pre-season. The next few weeks it will be decided and explained.

“Martin has a lot of qualities that we want as a captain.”

Asked about what he saw in Odegaard last season, Arteta said: “One of them is that he thinks about the team before himself.

“He had a period at the start where he wasn’t playing, he was the first in training, the last to leave, asking the right questions. Why he wasn’t playing, what he had to do – he was always listening, he was always helping his teammates.

“His attitude was absolutely phenomenal. That made me think that this guy is putting the team in front of himself. And the captain has to do that always.”