The nature of Martin Odegaard’s injury absence has been revealed to be a concussion, but the midfielder is expected to return after the international break.

The Daily Mail report that Martin Odegaard’s recent absence is unrelated to his previous hip injury, and he’s missed Arsenal’s recent matches due to suffering a concussion.

Odegaard was hit in the face with a ball during a training session at London Colney in the build-up to the Newcastle United game, and after a concussion check, he was withdrawn from the starting lineup for the fixture.

The Arsenal captain then missed further games against Sevilla and Burnley.

Though the report doesn’t specify the exact date of Odegaard’s concussion, the player was pictured in training on November 3rd, the day before the Newcastle game, so it must have been then.

The new Premier League protocols required an absence of at least seven days in cases of concussion, but that minimum can be increased to 12 in certain cases.

Those cases include if you’ve had a concussion in the last 12 months, if you’ve had five or more concussions in your career, if you’ve had a loss of consciousness, or if you’ve shown confusion on the field.

That would take us to November 15th, and perhaps explain why Odegaard didn’t return against Burnley.

Though Odegaard has now pulled out of international duty with Norway, that decision is reportedly related to the previous hip problem, not the concussion.

The player will remain in England over the international break, but there is confidence he’ll be fit to return to action afterwards.

Odegaard featured in all of Arsenal’s first 14 games of the season, but he’s only played 10 minutes in the last five matches.

Mikel Arteta would certainly welcome his captain back as soon as possible, and it appears that could be in the first game after the break, away to Brentford on November 25th.