Gilberto Silva has hailed the impact of Martin Odegaard at Arsenal, comparing the Real Madrid midfielder to Roberto Carlos.
Odegaard joined the Gunners in January on a season long loan, with Mikel Arteta indicating his desire to make the deal permanent in the summer.
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The Norwegian has started seven games under Arteta and has scored in the last two games, including a stunning strike in the Europa League win over Olympiacos, which led to the comparison with Carlos.
“It was a great win, 3-1 away from home in the Europa League. It was a great goal from Odegaard as well,” Gilberto’s co-host said on his podcast.
“It was like Roberto Carlos, you know, boom. Come on, it looks like Roberto Carlos from outside the box. A great goal by the way,” Gilberto replied.
The ex-Arsenal midfielder went on to single Odegaard out as one of the top performers in the north London derby.
“The fact is they had a performance I expected for a long time, they dominated the game as we used to watch Arsenal many times doing this. Individual performances were very good as well, especially from Odegaard.”
Arteta is already a big fan of Odegaard, praising his leadership skills and the speed in which he’s adapted to life in the Premier League.
“He is a young leader,” Arteta said last month.
“On the pitch he is showing a lot of character and a lot of intelligence. They are characteristics that a leader should have.
“He has been here a very short time but he has adapted very quickly. He is getting more and more respect from the players and the staff and his weight on the team will increase with every week.
“We have Martin for a few months from Real Madrid and first of all we have to maximise this time with him to try to bring to the team all the qualities he has,” the Spaniard added.
“At the end of the season we will sit together and decide where we can take that relationship forward. At the moment it doesn’t just depend on us.”
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