Martin Odegaard Returns to Arsenal Training

Martin Odegaard is back in Arsenal colours – just not quite back in the thick of it yet.

The club captain reported to London Colney this week after his post-World Cup break, Arsenal confirming his return with training images from their base. While the rest of Mikel Arteta’s senior squad are in Dublin preparing to face Real Betis on Wednesday night, Odegaard has been easing himself into pre-season work a couple of hundred miles away.

He will not feature in that Betis friendly. That decision is deliberate, not dramatic.

Arsenal have followed the same script with their other late returners. Gabriel Magalhaes and Gabriel Martinelli rejoined the group last week after Brazil’s World Cup exit, but neither was rushed straight into the matchday squad for the subsequent game against Girona. The pattern is clear: arrive, work, then play.

The club’s medical and fitness staff are setting the tempo. Players coming off a summer tournament are being handed a short runway to build sharpness and avoid the classic pre-season pitfalls – soft-tissue strains, heavy legs, and early-season fatigue. Odegaard is simply the next in line.

His timing fits neatly alongside the Brazilian duo. Brazil’s World Cup ended on July 5th; Norway’s campaign ran until July 11th. Gabriel and Martinelli returned first, as expected. Odegaard has followed roughly a week later, exactly in line with that schedule.

By the same logic, the remaining Arsenal players who went deepest into the World Cup should filter back into training over the coming days. Their tournament commitments ended seven or eight days after Norway’s, so they are expected to be back by Thursday of next week.

That leaves almost no breathing space before the Community Shield on Sunday, August 16th. With such a tight turnaround, expectations for their involvement at Wembley are understandably low. Match rhythm cannot be manufactured in a few days of training, and Arsenal look unlikely to gamble with players who have barely shaken off the summer.

For Odegaard, the more realistic target lies closer to home.

The Emirates Cup meeting with Borussia Dortmund this weekend is shaping up as his first opportunity for minutes. Recent evidence points to a controlled reintroduction: against Girona, Piero Hincapie, Kai Havertz, and Viktor Gyokeres were all given roughly half an hour as they stepped back into action.

That is the template. A similar cameo awaits the Gabriels on Wednesday in Dublin. Odegaard, if all goes to plan, should follow with his own carefully measured spell on Sunday in front of the home crowd.

The captain is back on the grass. The next step is back in the rhythm.