Mikel Arteta agrees with Cesc Fabregas over Martin Odegaard amid Arsenal’s impressive start

Cesc Fabregas and Mikel Arteta are in agreement over Martin Odegaard’s maturity.

Odegaard has enjoyed a fine start to the season, his first as Gunners captain, playing a key role in Arsenal’s superb form.

Mikel Arteta’s men are top of the Premier League as things stand, winning all but one of their first nine Premier League games.

Odegaard was signed during the summer before last, snapped up on a permanent deal from Real Madrid after an initial loan spell with the Gunners.

The Norwegian couldn’t nail down a place under Carlo Ancelotti, a manager he worked with twice at Real Madrid, although years apart.

Ancelotti saw Odegaard signed by those above him, and that never went down well with the Italian boss.

Since then, the attacking midfielder has come into his own at Arsenal, living up to some of his ‘boy wonder’ destiny.

And he has even managed to win the captaincy early in his time at the Emirates Stadium.

“I really like his style, I like his intelligence, the way he moves and always finds pockets of space where you can make the difference in football these days,” former Gunner Fabregas recently told BT Sport of Odegaard.

“He also has a lot of responsibility, he was 15 when he made his debut for Norway, he is the captain of Norway, now a very young captain for Arsenal and he is responding very well. I am very happy for him, he reminds me a little of me when I took the armband at 21.”

Interestinly, Gunners boss Arteta has also spoken about Odegaard’s development as a player and an individual.

“It’s his journey,” he said earlier this week. “He started in the spotlight very, very early in his career, and probably that’s why he’s so mature at the age he is at now.

“He’s been around for so long that we forget how old he is. But it’s his journey, he could not pick it.

“He was so good at that age, he got a lot of attention and he dealt with it in a really positive way.”