‘No-one wanted this to happen’: Martin Odegaard admits it was ‘tough’ for ‘world class’ player at Arsenal

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New Arsenal skipper Martin Odegaard has spoken out about Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang losing the captaincy last season.

Mikel Arteta took the armband from the Gabonese superstar last term before selling him to Barcelona late on in the transfer window.

Alexandre Lacazette was handed the honour for the remainder of the campaign but has now left to go back to Lyon, with Odegaard the club’s new leader now.

And he spoke to F365 about Aubameyang, admitting it was a tough situation for everyone at the club when it happened.

Odegaard on Aubameyang and Arsenal captaincy

“I think it was a tough situation for everyone. No one wanted this to happen,” he said.

“It was not an ideal situation for the club, for the players, for Auba of course it was tough. For Auba it was hard and for the manager.

“It was a difficult and tough situation but in football, you have to keep going and look forward and I think we did that in a good way.

“So, it was a sad situation but you have to deal with it and move on.”

Aubameyang was described as ‘world class’ by Gary Neville in 2020, and at that stage, he was.

He was key to Arsenal winning the FA Cup behind closed doors under Mikel Arteta but then the situation seemed to change when he got a new contract.

Arteta ultimately decided that his influence on the group as a whole was worth getting rid of despite the lack of firepower he had at the club.

Could Aubameyang have fired Arsenal into the top four in the closing weeks of the season? We won’t know, but you could argue he would have undermined the togetherness which got them to that point.

Either way, it is a new era for Arsenal now, with Odegaard at the forefront and it has been an exciting summer in the transfer market too.