Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has suggested that Anfield is the loudest stadium he has played at in England.
Odegaard was on the receiving end of some interesting preparation tactics for a trip to Liverpool last season. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta decided to pipe ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ through some speakers during his team’s sessions on the training pitch ahead of the game.
And, speaking to FourFourTwo, the 24-year-old looked back on his manager’s attempts to ready his players.
“We were all a little bit confused when we could hear the music on… then we saw the speakers. Anfield can be the loudest stadium in this country. It was a nice way to prepare the team,” Odegaard said.
Odegaard admits to Liverpool ‘dream’
Arteta’s tactics didn’t work on the day – his team were soundly beaten 4-0 by Liverpool. But fast forward to this season, and he’s clearly doing something right.
One of those things was likely making Odegaard his captain. Now twenty-four, the Norwegian appears to have all the qualities of a good leader.
Since his £30m move was made permanent in 2021 he has been a key player for Arsenal. With the Gunners looking like mounting a title challenge this season, the midfielder is finally starting to make good on his potential.
Potential that had been spotted by one Jurgen Klopp quite some time ago, as it turns out.
Just a couple of months ago, in October, the Liverpool manager told TV2 just how big a fan he is of Odegaard.
“I really like him,” said Klopp. “It’s easy these days. It was a bit more difficult at the start of his career when he was at Real Madrid. Then it looked like it might not go his way. I was really disappointed by that, because we wanted him in Dortmund when he was very young.
“We had a long conversation when he was still a boy, together with his father. In the end he decided on Madrid, and that’s fine, but that’s why I’ve always followed him.”
Interesting, and it seems that Odegaard has always followed Liverpool, too. In quotes from Bild via the Evening Standard in 2014, the former Real Madrid man admitted that his ‘dream’ was a move to Anfield. In another life, maybe he and Klopp could have ended up at Liverpool together.
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