Mikel Arteta responds when asked whether Martin Odegaard will now be out for months

On Wednesday evening, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta confirmed the news that Gunners fans have been dreading.

Namely, that Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

The Gunners star suffered an ankle injury while on international duty with Norway earlier this month.

Now, Arteta has told reporters at his pre-Atalanta press conference that Odegaard has sustained ligament damage.

Mikel Arteta says Arsenal will be without Martin Odegaard ‘for a while’

When asked by football.london how Odegaard was, Arteta replied: “After recent scans the scans showed that he’s got some damage, especially on one of the ligaments in the ankle.

“We’re going to miss him.”

Arteta was then asked whether he could provide a rough timeline, and he replied: “I don’t want to do that because I’m not a doctor.

“But it’s something quite significant so we’re going to lose him for a while.”

Pressed further on whether Odegaard’s layoff is a case of months rather than weeks, Arteta responded: “Hopefully not months but we’ll see.”

Bleak news for Arsenal

Make no mistake, this is very bad news for Arsenal.

Odegaard is an indispensable player for the Gunners, both in terms of his role in Arteta’s system and in terms of his brilliant leadership.

Worse still, Arsenal don’t have an obvious replacement for Odegaard. Emile Smith Rowe has been sold to Fulham and Fabio Vieira is on loan at Porto.

READ MORE: Arsenal academy full-back spotted in first-team training pre-Atalanta

Who could replace Odegaard in Arsenal starting XI?

Leandro Trossard played at No. 10 against Tottenham, and it’s a role he has undertaken several times during his playing career.

Kai Havertz could also feature in that position, but it remains to be seen whether Arteta can afford to lose him as a false nine.