Mikel Arteta does not believe Martin Odegaard’s return will hamper Emile Smith Rowe’s progress, instead believing the move to be important to “protect” Arsenal’s number 10.
Arsenal announced two new signings on Friday, Odegaard followed at Emirates Stadium by goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.
Odegaard already knows his surroundings, however, having spent the second half of the 2020-21 season on loan from Real Madrid.
During that time, he only started eight times alongside Smith Rowe in all competitions, although Arsenal have won five of those matches.
Now back as a permanent signing, there are concerns that Odegaard could limit opportunities for Smith Rowe, who has signed an improved contract and assumed a bigger role for the new season following interest from Aston Villa.
Although the pair are similar players, Odegaard is further along in his development and had a bigger impact in the final third of last season.
He created 2.1 chances and made 1.6 shots every 90 minutes, while Smith Rowe created 1.7 chances and made 0.8 attempts.
But this question was posed to Arteta and he was not concerned, citing the relative inexperience of Smith Rowe having bowed out in the senior league with RB Leipzig in 2019 – five years after Odegaard broke into the Stromsgodset team at the age of 15.
“It’s the opposite,” said the Gunners manager. “What we want is to have Emile in a better place to develop him and to have alternatives to this position.
“They are players who can play perfectly together – they showed this last year – and we can’t count on just one player. We have already lost a lot of creative players.
“We can’t count on just one player with everything he’s shown us, because Emile has never played 50 games at this level in his career.
“We will have to protect him and of course we need other players who can do that as well.”
