Morning all.
Let’s start with the Arsenal interest in yesterday’s games, and Norway’s 3-2 win over Senegal saw Martin Odegaard start, and provided an assist for Erling Haaland with an inch perfect pass after driving forward with the ball from well inside his own half. For me, the discussion of late about the captain should never have been about his quality. If people want to overlook all the brilliant things he’s done in an Arsenal shirt, that’s their lookout, but in my opinion it’s much more fair to say we haven’t seen the best of him because of injury.
That’s a more honest place to have that debate, if you want to have it. To just dismiss a player without providing any context is pointless. That doesn’t mean the injuries aren’t a worry, of course they are, and after that big ankle problem he picked up playing for Norway 2024, he doesn’t ever seem to have found full fitness since. I think part of it was the fact that on his return in the 2024-25 season, he was about the only creative midfielder at our disposal. Ethan Nwaneri was needed to deputise for Bukayo Saka, and not unlike other players the burden on Odegaard was quite heavy.
Last season was punctuated by injury. The two shoulder problems, a knee issue when he clashed knees with another player, another knee problem when he over-extended it, and at no point did you ever look at him and think he’s 100% fit and in his best form. I guess it gives Arsenal some thinking to do this summer, because when a player has those periods of injury which so influence their output, it’s normal to assess that.
For me though, we’re a side that needs more creativity and craft, not less, and while his role might change (in ways that might also allow him to find the kind of rhythm we know he’s capable of), I still think he’s got a big role to play. Time will tell though, and for now he can enjoy the fact Norway have qualified for the knock-out stages, and he’s having fun with a big drum.
Elsewhere, William Saliba played the full game as France beat Iraq 3-0, with two goals from Kylian Mbappe, the first another belter from distance, the second after a massive howler at the back, before one from Ousmane Dembele. That forward line doesn’t need any extra help and it’s quite interesting to see the big guns firing at this tournament. Mbappe has 4, Haaland has 4, and a certain Lionel Messi is on 5 after scoring twice against Austria yesterday, making him the leading scorer in World Cup history with 18 goals overall.
The fact he still got a couple after missing a penalty tells you about his sheer relentlessness. I loved the first goal, sweeping the ball home after a nice step-over from a teammate, and the touch in the box which led to his second is actually ridiculous. Perhaps he got a bit fortunate with the ball rebounding to him, but there’s that relentlessness again. Ultimately, he is by some distance the best player I have ever seen, and I also completely agree with Tim Stillman here:
Ngl, 90% of my happiness for Messi breaking the record is knowing how much it’ll annoy Ronaldo.
— Tim Stillman ⭐️⭐️ (@tim-stillman.bsky.social) 2026-06-22T17:48:58.818Z
Are we small, petty men? You better believe it.
The other game last night saw Algeria beat Jordan 2-1. Today, the Arsenal focus is on England who take on Ghana this evening, and we’ll see how much Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka can contribute. I expect the former to start, because of course he always does, while it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Noni Madueke continue on the right ahead of his club colleague whose training this week was curtailed because of that ongoing Achilles injury. The other games see Uzbekistan play Portugal, Panama take on Croatia, and Colombia face DR Congo.
Meanwhile, there’s some transfer tittle-tattle with the Guardian reporting that Arsenal are set to ‘make an approach’ for Morgan Rogers, with some chat that Aston Villa are looking for something in the region of £100m for the 23 year old. If it sounds a lot, it’s because it is, but when Elliot Anderson can’t be prised out of Nottingham Forest for less than £120m, and there’s a £100m price-tag on Newcastle’s decent but far from exceptional Sandro Tonali, then you can understand why they’d want any conversation to be in that ball-park.
Rogers is young, an England international, and has a contract with Villa until 2031, so that obviously plays a big part in how expensive any potential deal would be. None of which will be news to Arsenal, so if he’s a player they really want to pursue, they go into this with their eyes open and fully aware of how much it might cost. The same piece says we’re also going to go for Ayyoub Bouaddi, the highly rated Moroccan midfielder who currently plays for Lille, and whose World Cup so far will only have added to his price tag. Josh Kroenke is gonna have to shift a ton of those Saliba/Gabriel meme t-shirts to pay for it.
Right, I’ll leave it there for now. There’s an Arsecast Extra below if you haven’t had a chance to listen yet, more from me here tomorrow.