It’s often said that football and politics shouldn’t mix, but sometimes it’s unavoidable.
Indeed, with Keir Starmer being such a massive Arsenal fan, it was only a matter of time before he went on the record to give his view on Mikel Arteta’s side after their fantastic start to the season.
Speaking to AFTV, Starmer has been discussing this Arsenal side and some of their standout performers over the past few years, and one player he’s been really impressed by is Martin Odegaard.
Starmer has been blown away by Odegaard’s transformation at Arsenal, claiming that he has gotten so much better since being handed the captain’s armband by Mikel Arteta, praising Arteta’s player-management in this scenario.
Arteta transformed Odegaard
Starmer praised the Arsenal captain for his transformation.
“Look at Odegaard, I saw him come here on loan initially and I thought there’s a very gifted player, but sometimes he faded in and out of games a bit, but then Arteta made him captain and now he has the authority, he’s running the team, and he’s playing the best football I think he’s ever played, and at the end of every game what does he do? He goes around the stadium clapping every fan. Like a captain, a leader, he claps every person still in the stadium. Fantastic. The player management there from Arteta is incredible,” Starmer said.
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Brilliant
Keir Starmer certainly knows a thing or two about leadership, and it has to be said that he’s spot on with his view of Arteta and Odegaard here.
For years, Odegaard was this unfulfilled talent just waiting to be unleashed, but, time and time again, clubs and managers were unable to harness his abilities.
However, Arteta has managed to get the best out of Odegaard in a short space of time by putting an arm around him and trusting him.
Odegaard is finally showing what he’s always been capable of, and Arteat deserves a lot of credit for unlocking the Norwegian over the past two years.