‘Arrogant’ Arsenal academy star will ‘put pressure on’ Saka and ‘particularly’ Odegaard
Former Arsenal man Theo Walcott feels that an academy star “will be putting pressure” on stars Bukayo Saka and “particularly” Martin Odegaard in the first team.
Saka and Odegaard have been two of the Gunners’ most influential assets for the past couple of seasons. In the 2022/23 Premier League season, Saka was directly involved in 26 goals, and Odegaard 22. Last season, the stars’ tallies were 28 and 19 respectively.
But according to former Arsenal star Walcott, their positions might not definitely remain safe, with academy star Ethan Nwaneri coming through and impressing.
“Oh, goodness me, wow. Do you know what, we saw a lot of him very early because we had to because of all of the injuries they’ve had. He has a stature off the field already at his age, if you see him, he has a good presence in sort of an arrogant way,” Walcott said on the Premier League YouTube.
“He’s good with people, but on the field he expresses everything that his gifts allow him to. I feel like at some point he will be putting pressure on my boy Bukayo and particularly Odegaard.
“He can operate in a lot of positions, but he can play in that left of 10. It’s exciting because having these players will bring the best out of everyone.”
Nwaneri, in 32 games this season, has eight goals and two assists, at 18 years of age. He has been effective both through the middle and down the right flank.
He has played fairly evenly between the two positions, but with Saka now back fit, opportunities on the right-wing may be reduced, unless he can continue to perform when given the chance, which Walcott clearly feels is possible.
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Usurping Odegaard might be less of a challenge than it might previously have been, with the midfielder dropping off this season, with only five goals and eight assists in all competitions – numbers a lot lower than the past couple of campaigns.
Pundit Gary Neville recently stated he feels Odegaard has suffered a “big drop-off” and that has not helped Arsenal’s push for success.
But if Nwaneri can continue performing, he could conceivably take that place, or push the Norwegian harder and help his performances to improve, knowing he has to get better or there’s a youngster raring to steal his spot.
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