Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard travelled to Oslo to link up with Norway after Sunday’s match against Chelsea, with the Norwegian national team planning to assess his situation ahead of a couple of Nations League fixtures.
That assessment is now complete, and the team doctor has decided it’s for the best to send the player back to London.
“This has been a complicated ankle injury,” Norway doctor Ola Sand said. “With very few training sessions with the team in the last nine weeks, it is natural that the body is not one hundred percent at this stage.
“After thorough investigations and conversations, we have agreed that Martin will not be ready to play in the matches against Slovenia and Kazakhstan.
“In consultation with him, we have agreed that it is better for him to return home to London to continue his rehabilitation there.”
Odegaard himself also made a statement on the decision to the Norwegian Football Federation website, denying that playing the Chelsea game was what ruled him out of the break.
“After discussions with the medical apparatus at the national team, we have unfortunately concluded that my situation is not good enough to play these matches,” Odegaard said.
“I’ve been through a long training period and when you haven’t practiced football in the last nine weeks, it’s natural not to be 100 percent yet. I need to listen to my body, complete this rehab process and get my foot back in good shape.
“The hope has always been to be able to play the national matches, and if I hadn’t played the league match on Sunday, it would have been out of the question to participate anyway.”
Norway manager Stale Solbakken also commented on the decision, insisting that they have to think about the player first.
“We knew that there was a risk that Martin would not be ready,” Solbakken said. “He has had a strong desire to take part in the matches, but we cannot risk his health.”
Perhaps Solbakken has learned his lesson from the September break, when he twice ignored Odegaard’s setbacks to play him in both games anyway.
That was what ultimately led to this extended injury absence, with Norway paying the price just as Arsenal have.
