**By Danong**
**Has this Arsenal team evolved beyond Martin Odegaard? Is the Norwegian skipper about to suffer the same fate as Aaron Ramsdale and Oleksandr Zinchenko, good players, but ultimately not good enough for where Arsenal were at?**
**Odegaard is expected to be one of Arsenal’s most productive figures. Yet three league goals and eight assists in the 2024–26 season, followed by just one league goal and six assists last term, is not enough.**
**Yes, one could argue his underlying numbers were strong in what was his worst, injury‑ridden campaign. However, injuries aside, across 24 league matches and eight Champions League outings last season, the Arsenal captain should have delivered more, more than his one goal and seven assists.**
**Odegaard has poured in effort, blood, and fight to help Arsenal reach this level. But now, the club must take the next step. Sadly, Arteta’s project may have outgrown him.**
**Strangely, it is nothing against him. He remains a fantastic player who could easily be the best midfielder on many other sides. Yet at Arsenal, he currently lacks the urgency and individual brilliance expected of a number 10.**
**For a player once bracketed alongside Kevin De Bruyne and Bruno Fernandes, he has failed to fulfil that potential. Still, while the clamour grows for Arsenal to move him on with Morgan Rogers touted as an upgrade, Odegaard may yet stay. He could be handed a chance to revive himself after two injury‑blighted campaigns.**
**Amid his struggles, it is worth noting that few organise the press as effectively as Odegaard. For Mikel Arteta, that tactical intelligence may be a decisive factor in keeping him. Selling that level of pressing nous without a superior replacement would be unwise, especially when a successor could learn directly from him.**
**Thus, the 2026–27 season could be Ødegaard’s last chance saloon. It may be the campaign in which he seals his Arsenal fate, and helps the Gunners decide whether he remains part of their future.**