Arsenal have confirmed that captain Martin Odegaard is set to miss a chunk of the season and it remains to be seen when he will return.
Odegaard suffered ankle ligament damage whilst on international duty with Norway in their Nations League clash with Austria.
The 25-year-old midfielder returned to North London and following MRI scans, ligament damage was confirmed and HITC is told that the damage was worse than Arsenal had initially believed.
Odegaard could be ruled out until Christmas
HITC understands that Arsenal are not going to rush Odegaard’s return to action and that means they are not expecting him to be fully fit until Christmas, although he could play before that.
Sources have told HITC that The Gunners want to make sure that Odegaard 100% for the second-half of the season and if that means an extra few weeks in rehab, then they will accept that.
Arsenal are confident that they can cope up until December, given by that point summer signing Mikel Merino will be fit, and their decision to keep both Thomas Partey and Jorginho now looks a wise one.
Arteta not happy to lose his captain
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta confirmed the news on Odegaard was not good and said: “After everything was scanned, the scan showed he has got some damage, especially on one of the ligaments in the ankle. We are going to miss him.
“It is something quite significant so we are going to lose him for a while. Hopefully not months, but let’s see. He is one of our biggest players without a doubt.
“He has been one of the most consistent players in the last two or three seasons. Our identity is very related to his way of playing and his way of behaving. We are going to have to deal with that.
“That is a great test for the team as well, of how capable we are to show maybe a different face and the fact we have other players and other options that can still be very effective.”
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