Martin Odegaard Returns to Arsenal Training

Martin Odegaard is back in the building.

Arsenal’s captain reported for pre-season duty at London Colney after his post-World Cup break, the club confirming his return with training-ground images on social media. The boots are on, the armband is back – but the comeback will be a slow burn rather than an instant headline.

While Odegaard went through his paces in Hertfordshire, the rest of Mikel Arteta’s senior squad were in Dublin preparing for Wednesday night’s friendly against Real Betis. The Norwegian will not be involved there, and that decision says as much about Arsenal’s planning as it does about his fitness.

This is a pattern, not a snub.

Gabriel Magalhaes and Gabriel Martinelli only rejoined the group last week after their own post-tournament holidays. Neither made the matchday squad for the subsequent game against Girona. Arsenal’s medical and performance staff are clearly holding the line: a few days of conditioning, then minutes. No shortcuts, no rush.

The calendar backs up the strategy. Brazil’s World Cup exit came on July 5th, Norway’s on July 11th. Gabriel and Martinelli, therefore, returned first; Odegaard, eliminated six days later, has followed a week on. It’s a staggered reintroduction built around rest periods rather than fan impatience.

By the same logic, the remaining World Cup internationals – whose tournaments ended seven or eight days after Norway’s – are expected back by Thursday of next week. That leaves them staring at a brutal turnaround before the Community Shield on Sunday, August 16th. Realistically, expectations of major involvement at Wembley are low. Sharpness cannot be faked after only a handful of sessions.

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

Arsenal host Borussia Dortmund in the Emirates Cup this weekend, and that fixture now looks the natural stage for his first pre-season minutes. The template is already there: against Girona, Piero Hincapie, Kai Havertz, and Viktor Gyokeres each played roughly half an hour as they eased into action.

It would be no surprise to see the same approach applied again – 30 or so minutes for the Gabriels on Wednesday, and a similar controlled outing for Odegaard on Sunday.

The captain is back. The next step is timing his return to the pitch just right, with a long season already looming into view.