Arsenal

Arsenal: Alan Smith raves over Martin Odegaard

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Image for Arsenal: Alan Smith raves over Martin Odegaard

Sky Sports pundit and former Arsenal star Alan Smith has been sharing his praise for Gunners midfielder Martin Odegaard. 

This comes after Smith made a guest appearance on a recent episode of The Sky Sports Football Podcast, where he spoke about a range of topics concerning Mikel Arteta’s side ahead of their weekend clash against north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

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On the subject of Arsenal’s previous league match that saw them beat Burnley 1-0 thanks to a free-kick goal from Odegaard, Smith had this to say about the Norwegian.

He said: “I was thinking about Odegaard before, when we were losing games, and he’s joined the club, and he must be thinking, ‘how’s this going to pan out?’ Wondering whether he’s made the right decision.

“So, that would have encouraged him a lot, the fact that they’ve got a couple of wins, and he scored a goal, he’s getting picked.

“He’s a great talent, Odegaard, and he’s only going to get better. A young lad with great leadership qualities, he captains his country, so yeah, that was a nice way to win the match through him.”

TIF Thoughts on Alan Smith’s comments on Odegaard…

Arsenal originally signed Odegaard on a loan deal from Spanish club Real Madrid back in the previous January transfer window before securing him on a permanent deal for a fee of £31.5 million (as per Transfermarkt).

Given how Arteta recently said that Odegaard “has this capacity” to be a key figure in terms of leadership in Arsenal’s side this season, this backs up what Smith had to say about him.

Would you start Odegaard against Tottenham?

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Moving forward, in our view, if Odegaard wants to show everyone why Arsenal chose to splash the cash to bring him back to north London on a permanent deal, rather than just with his apparent leadership qualities, he will have to consistently chip in with goals, assists, as well as the decent performances he has started with against Burnley – and hopefully he can continue this form at the weekend against Tottenham.

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