Mikel Arteta confirmed Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard will be out "for a while" after suffering a significant ankle injury while playing for Norway. (More Football News)
The 25-year-old hobbled off during ꦇhis country's Nations League 2-1 win o👍ver Austria in Oslo on September 9 and returned to London on crutches.
Odegaard missed Sunday🍎's 1-0 derby victory against Tottenham and Arteta revealeꦉd the bad news on the midfielder ahead of Arsenal's opening Champions League game away to Atalanta.
"The scans showed that he's got some damage especially on one of the ligaments in the ankle," the Arsenal manager said on Wedn🌱esday.
"It's somethi♏ng quite significant so we're going ⭕to lose him for a while."
Arteta, whose side are second in the league and two points behind Manchester City, said he hoped it would not be months "buꦺt let's see".
Odegaard has become a key player f🤡or Arsenal, missing only a handful of games over the last three seasons, and a lengthy absence will come as a huge blow.
"He's our captain. He's been one of the biggest and bestꦑ players in our team," co🥀ntinued Arteta.
"Our identity is very linked to how he plays and behaves. It's a big test for the team to see how ab꧟le we are to show a different face."
Norway coach Stale So✅lbakken told VG newspaper he had been fully updated about the injury and was "preparing for a life without Martin".
"We have to take it week by week and day by day. Some types of damage go faster an🐬d some go slower,"🔯 he said.
