Martin Odegaard has insisted there was no pressure from Arsenal to miss the international break, despite his recent shoulder injury.
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard suffered an injury to his shoulder during the Gunners’ second game of the season against Leeds United, having to withdraw from the contest and only making a cameo appearance from the bench in the following big game against Liverpool.
Yet before that game even took place, Odegaard had already been called up by Norway for the September internationals.
Speaking in a press conference over the break, Odegaard responded to a question about whether he felt pressured by Arsenal to miss the camp and recover instead.
“It was never really an issue,” Odegaard responded. “The club of course wanted me ready for the weekend (to face Liverpool), and then I was ready for the national team training camp.”
It’s a fair point. If Arsenal felt Odegaard was sufficiently fit that they could include him in the squad for a game before the international break, they could hardly then argue that he wasn’t fit to play for Norway days later.
For their part, Norway seem to be taking care with Odegaard’s fitness. They only used him for 45 minutes in their friendly match last Thursday, though they’ll presumably give him more of a run out in Tuesday night’s World Cup qualifier against Moldova.
WhoScored report that Odegaard is currently the highest-rated player in the European qualifiers for the World Cup, with an average rating of 8.32. It’s not hard to see why Norway would be so keen to have him involved whenever possible.