Former Arsenal skipper Tony Adams recently called for Martin Odegaard to be stripped of the club’s captaincy, and he’s now been backed up by another former Gunners star
Former Arsenal star Anders Limpar has backed Tony Adams’ call for Martin Odegaard to be stripped of the club captaincy. Gunners icon Adams claimed earlier this month Mikel Arteta needs to axe Odegaard as captain and replace him with Declan Rice if he harbours dreams of finally winning the Premier League.
The Norwegian playmaker was appointed Gunners skipper ahead of the 2022/23 campaign and has overseen a period of three consecutive second-placed finishes, with no major trophies won. He has since responded to Adams and discussed how his role as captain is a “shared” position.
Limpar, a league title winner with the Gunners in 1991, maintains that Odegaard is an “unbelievable” player. Yet Limpar insists he cannot side against his former captain in the debate of who should lead Arsenal on the pitch.
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“If Tony Adams says Declan Rice should be Arsenal captain I will stand behind it,” Limpar, 59, said to BoyleSports. “I can’t say anything against my skipper, for sure. He is one of the best skippers there has been in the game and he has won so many things.
“What I’m saying is that it’s not even important because I can’t sit here in Stockholm telling Arsenal to swap to Declan Rice. But if Tony Adams says that they’re gonna swap to Declan Rice, I stand behind it.
“I think Odegaard is unbelievable. Is he suitable to have the capacity? Yes, in my opinion. I think so. If Tony wants another skipper, yeah, that’s his words. Whatever Tony says, that’s easy for me now.
“I stand behind him because I know how he was as a captain. He was Captain Marvel. So he said a few things about Martin. I don’t know if it’s fair or not. Only Arteta knows how he is in the dressing room, how he is among the players. Is he the first one going out in practice? Is he leading by example? I don’t know.”
Diplomatically, Limpar claimed that former West Ham skipper Rice may not even have ambitions of wearing the armband, adding: “All the things I’m saying is what you expect from the captain, otherwise, he’s not captain for Arsenal. You and I don’t know if Declan Rice even wants to be a captain. We don’t know that.
“What we do know is that Martin is the captain. He must be a hell of a player in the dressing room for sure to claim the captaincy and especially as a foreign player. That’s unbelievable.
“He is always good for Arsenal. He’s dictating the speed of the game. I like him. He’s one of my favourites and at the moment he is the captain, so leave it there.”
Speaking on the Indo Sport podcast, Adams, who captained Arsenal to four league titles and three FA Cups, claimed Arteta has to install a captain who can finally get Arsenal over the line as Premier League champions.
“He’s got a really big call to make this year and for me he hasn’t done it,” Adams said of Arteta. “The call is to make Declan Rice the captain. I think Declan is my kind of captain, and it might free Odegaard up to play with a bit more freedom.
“To win league titles, you have to be a [Jurgen] Klopp, you have to be a [Sir Alex] Ferguson. You have to lead by example, you have to be a winner, you have to go about your business. And that reflects in your captain.
“And I’m seeing Declan Rice as a captain but I’m saying to Arteta: ‘Come on, step up now. It’s your time to be a winning manager and a fantastic manager, because you’re not going to win the league with Odegaard as captain.’
“You’ve got someone in there who’s going to play every game all season, that’s going to encourage people to come in and lay the foundations of a title-winning team. Declan Rice can do that, Odegaard can’t.”
It’s been a solid start to the season for Arsenal, who won 1-0 at Manchester United and thumped Leeds 5-0 at home, although Odegaard had to be withdrawn in the first half of that game with a shoulder injury. Bukayo Saka took over the captaincy after his team-mate went off, but then the England winger also suffered an injury, resulting in Gabriel wearing it for the remainder of the match.
Odegaard could well return on Sunday, though, for the trip to Anfield as champions Liverpool host Arsenal ahead of the international break.
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