Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard is still "far" from making his return from injury.
The midfielder has been sidelined since early September after picking up an ankle injury while on international duty with Norway. Odegaard limped off against Austria and was subsequently diagnosed with ligament damage.
Arsenal took their time to confirm the extent of the injury and an initial return date of the middle of October was tentatively pencilled in, but those hopes appear to have been now dashed by Norway boss Stale Solbakken.
Solbakken had hoped to include Odegaard in his squad for the upcoming international break but his 23-man selection for the Nations League games against Slovenia and Austria was confirmed on Tuesday and did not include the Gunners skipper.
Troppen til Nations League-kampene mot Slovenia og Østerrike 🇳🇴 pic.twitter.com/5Kp0OvpYlR
— Fotballandslaget (@nff_landslag) October 1, 2024
"He is far from being in the squad," Solbakken told reporters. "We will have to see how far he gets during this international break. It is possible that he will come, but it depends a little on his rehabilitation. I have not spoken to him in the past four or five days."
He added: "That both Oscar [Bobb] and Martin are out at the same time - it would be naive to say that it doesn't have a meaning. After all, we played the last 35 minutes against Austria without Martin.
"And [we] won that part of the match 1-0, so it's not like we don't think we can do it without him. But Martin is very important to the group and he has been among the best in every match in recent years."
