Kai Havertz has revealed he was surprised by Martin Odegaard's leadership skills in the Arsenal dressing room.
Odegaard took over as captain in July 2022, turning into a key figure for the Gunners' midfield and continues to make his presence felt while injured. Arsenal striker Havertz has highlighted Odegaard's ongoing influence and leadership qualities in the changing room, as they aim for league title glory once again this season.
While appearing on the Sky Sports Premier League YouTube channel, Havertz opened up about Odegaard's captaincy style. The German forward praised Odegaard's leadership skills but confessed that the Norwegian's outspoken nature caught him off guard.
"I don't know how long he is injured now, maybe two weeks, but every day, he's here every day, he's in the meetings and speaks to us," Havertz revealed. "Yeah I think, I think he is the perfect captain for a team like us where we have like so many young players and still the players who can progress, and he is just there for everyone and not only off the pitch.
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"To be honest when I came, before I came to Arsenal, I didn't think he would speak so much like in the dressing room and stuff like that. But he speaks a lot and in the dressing room before the game, stuff like that, and he is also always there on the pitch. You know, when the things are not going your way, you need someone to step up."
He added: "I think everyone has to step up when one of your most important players is missing and I think we do it quite well at the moment, we have some players um they now speak a lot in the dressing room, that helps.
"So, yeah we hope obviously Martin comes back very quickly but um yeah we have to do our job when he's not there."
With a match against Leicester City at the Emirates Stadium coming this afternoon, Arsenal are counting on their leadership to secure the three points and move past the disappointment of their nail-biting draw with Manchester City.
Their title rivals City dropped points again on the weekend with a 1-1 draw against Newcastle, meaning victory today could see Mikel Arteta's men go level on points with them.
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