Arteta's private chat with Odegaard comes to light as star signs Arsenal deal
Mikel Arteta has already spoken about the conversations he has had with Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard on how the Norwegian star can continue to his game.
Odegaard has penned a long-term deal in north London through to the summer of 2028 and his fine form for the Gunners has been rewarded with an upgrade on his previous £120,000-a-week wages at the Emirates.
The Norwegian has established himself not only as a leader on the pitch for Arteta’s side but also as one of the Premier League ’s most talented players. He was an integral part of the side’s title challenge last year and is consistently one of the team’s top performers.
The Arsenal boss has been a key factor for the improvement in Odegaard’s game. The playmaker impressed during his early career in the Netherlands on loan from Real Madrid and while he blossomed at Real Sociedad, his game has been elevated to the next level at the Emirates.
In an interview with Norwegian outlet TV2 in 2022, Arteta opened up on the conversations that he had been having with Odegaard: “It is private and personal things. It's conversations we had about his job. It's an opinion me and the other coaches had to make the player maximise his potential.”
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Arteta continued to outline the timeline he expected the impact to have on the Gunners captain: “What we are working on now, you will see in three or six months. What Martin is doing now, you can't yet see on the pitch. We will see it in three months, six months or a year.”
The improvement in Odegaard’s return in the months since is notable. Having netted seven goals in the 2020-21 campaign, the Norwegian more than doubled that last term – with 15 goals to his name. He has already bagged three in seven appearances this term.
Have Your Say! Can Odegaard lead Arsenal to the Premier League title ? Tell us what you think here.
Arteta has overseen Odegaard's rise at Arsenal (GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)The admiration and respect between the two is very much mutual. Speaking last year in an interview with TV2:2, Odegaard said of the impact his boss has had on his career: "It has surprised me, actually, how detail-oriented he [Arteta] and the whole team are. I’ve never encountered anything like it, with people who see football that way and who see details as specifically as he does.
“It can be simple little things or more big things. It’s extremely detailed and a lot of little things we talk about, watching video after every game and all that. It’s fun working with him and the team. It works.” Odegaard has now committed his long-term future to the Gunners – don’t rule out his continued improvement under Arteta in north London.
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