Martin Odegaard is 'exactly what we want at Arsenal,' says Mikel Arteta.
Mikel Arteta praised Martin Odegaard's natural leadership skills but urged the Norwegian captain to score more goals.
Odegaard, 23, has indeed been tipped as a future Arsenal captain and has been in excellent form recently.
Odegaard was signed on a permanent basis by Real Madrid in the summer after spending the 2nd half of last season on loan at the Emirates Stadium, and he has played a key role in transforming the Gunners into Champions League contenders.
With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang free to depart for Barcelona in January, Alexandre Lacazette has taken over as captain for the time being - but he is out of contract in the summer.
Arteta recently stated that he is not concerned about who will be his long-term captain, but he was full of enthusiasm for Odegaard's credentials.
'He's moving in the right direction,' Arteta said.
'He is the captain of the national team. Even at his age, he is one of the senior players here, and it comes very naturally to him.'
Pep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City, recently told Jack Grealish not to worry about his goals and assists because'statistics never existed before.'
'It's how you play today if you operate to your maximum, to your best, and assist your teammates in making the method defensively and offensively better - that's enough.'
Odegaard is a comparable player to Arteta in that statistics do not demonstrate how significant his contribution is.
'Martin is a really essential player for us, there's no doubt about it,' he said.
'He demonstrates that every week.' He's a joy to work with. He's working on aspects of his game that we addressed, on which he agreed, and which we believe will allow him to have a much greater impact on matches.
'His entire philosophy, the way he equips himself, the way he regards people, the way he plays the game, is precisely what we want from an Arsenal player,' says the manager.
Despite this, Arteta wants to exert his influence in more risky situations and add to his four goals this season.
'He needs to play close to the opponents' box, for sure,' added Arteta.
'He needs to create more goals, he needs to score more goals, he needs to make more runs in behind, he needs to be closer to the strikers to give them support, and he can do that.
'He definitely needs to play nearer to the opponent's box,' Arteta added.
'He needs to create more goals, score more goals, make more runs in behind, be nearer to the strikers to give them backing, and he can do that.'
'He needs to take advantage of more free kicks.' He can still make a bigger contribution to our set pieces. His defensive play is outstanding.
'There are some regions where he can only improve, and the sole way to improve is to agree on them and then practice.'
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