Arteta lauds the impact of Odegaard
Mikel Arteta has praised the leadership quality of loan signing Martin Odegaard and is eyeing up summer talks to potentially extend his Arsenal stay.
Odegaard moved to the Emirates Stadium from Real Madrid on January 27 and has impressed in recent outings.
The 22-year-old needed time to get up to speed having not featured regularly for the La Liga giants, but has started Arsenal’s last two games in the number 10 role.
While his ability to find space and pick out key passes has been evident from those early Arsenal displays, Arteta has also been impressed with Odegaard’s approach.
“He is a young leader,” Arteta said. “On the pitch he is showing a lot of character and a lot of intelligence. They are characteristics that a leader should have.
“He has been here a very short time, but he has adapted very quickly.
“He is getting more and more respect from the players and the staff and his weight on the team will increase with every week.”
Pep Guardiola says all his recordbreaking Manchester City players deserve to stay at the club for “many, many years”, but accepts some of them may leave this summer.
City have created the longest winning streak of any English top-flight side with 17 consecutive victories, while opening up a 10-point Premier League lead over nearest challengers Leicester and Manchester United.
The real challenge for Guardiola might be to improve his squad in the transfer market this summer, but the City manager was more interested in discussing his current players when future planning was discussed ahead of the trip to the Emirates Stadium.
“What I believe is all the players that we have deserve to stay here for many, many years,” Guardiola said.
“The quality they have is exceptional, there’s no doubts. But year by year the situation is different because there are players who accept some roles and some that don’t.
“These players have to reflect and speak with their agents and the club and decide the best for them especially, and for the club as well, so I don’t know what is going to happen next season.”