International manager chooses Arsenal man as a player he would want in his team

Louis Van Gaal has chosen Martin Odegaard as one player he would love to have on his Netherlands team.

The former Manchester United manager leads his Holland side in a World Cup qualifying match against Norway today.

The Norwegians have some of the finest players in Europe at the moment, but they will be without Erling Haaland for the game.

In his absence, Odegaard will look to lead his national team to victory.

Van Gaal concedes Norway has a good set of players, but he picks out Odegaard as one player that he would love to manage in his Dutch national team if he could choose.

Asked which Norwegian player he would want in his Netherlands side apart from Haaland, Van Gaal replied to TV2 as quoted by the Metro: ‘I shall choose between Odegaard and [Kristian] Thorstvedt.

‘Odegaard is very creative and has very good passing. He can play the ball where he wants.

‘When the player demands the ball in a good position he can give the ball. And he’s a team player.

‘He stays a team player, that is very good.’

Just Arsenal Opinion

Odegaard is one of the most technically gifted players at Arsenal and Mikel Arteta pursued him for around a year.

However, the midfielder is struggling to get into the Arsenal first-team now and that is partly because of the form of Emile Smith Rowe.

He will hope he returns to Arsenal and gets more chances to start games for the Gunners.

However, Smith Rowe has also had a very fine international break with the senior England national team.

The competition between these two players is exciting and Arteta may need to find a way to fit both of them in his starting XI.