Arsenal playmaker Martin Odegaard has to be one of the best players who isn’t participating in this summer’s European Championships.
Even though Norway have Manchester City’s goal machine Erling Haaland to pick from and the quick-thinking ability of Martin Odegaard, they still struggled to qualify and they will face similar problems ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
On the domestic stage, Odegaard is one of the best in the business and he is the type of player who makes those around him better.
One of them players could include Arsenal’s Hale-End star, Bukayo Saka, who has scored 30 Premier League goals during the past two campaigns.
But at Euro 2024, the 22-year-old is coming under fire because England have made an uninspiring start to the tournament.
After a tepid and unconvincing opening group win over Serbia, Gareth Southgate’s side followed it up by recording a 1-1 draw against Denmark.
Paul Merson thinks that performance was ‘as bad as the Iceland game’ from 2016 and he highlighted Saka.
The Sky pundit questioned if Saka is a ‘great player’ and whether he is only considered that because he plays alongside a ‘great player’ in Odegaard at club level, as he told Football’s Greatest: Euros.
The issue players like Saka are facing is that Southgate’s defensive style is hurting them badly and it is doing serious harm to their reputation.
Bukayo Saka at Euro 2024 with England
“We should be wiping the floor with these teams and we should because that means we have better players all around the pitch,” said Merson.
“We should stamp our authority. It was the other way around against Denmark – I have never seen anything like it. Bar them not losing the game, it was as bad as the Iceland game, especially when we start to talk about how great these players are.
“I am starting to think now. Are these players great or are they playing with great players at their clubs? I will let you know if we win this tournament or not, because if we don’t win it, I start looking at these players and thinking ‘Saka, is it because you are playing with Odegaard?’ Is it because of patterns of play? Odegaard makes runs and you get time on the ball – at the moment, he is getting the ball and the defender isn’t as far away from him. Some of the time I think there is no pattern and I don’t know what they are doing in training.”
Gareth Southgate is the problem
The England manager has probably taken charge of one tournament too many and he shouldn’t be in the dugout for this tournament.
His defensive ways just don’t suit the attacking talent the country has to pick from.
READ MORE: Ally McCoist rages at Arsenal star at Euro 2024, questioned about ‘going into dressing room’
When England can afford to keep Chelsea’s Cole Palmer on the bench without handing him any minutes or keeping James Maddison at home, then it’s everything you need to know.
This might just be a case of fans not seeing the true worth of someone like Saka until he works with an attacking manager on the international stage.
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