'I'm sorry' – Mikel Arteta told what he doesn't want to hear after failing to make Arsenal change

Tony Adams has taken Mikel Arteta to task for his decision to keep Martin Odegaard as Arsenal captain for the 2025/26 campaign. The Gunners icon believes this is the season Arteta has to prove himself as a winning manager, and he feels Declan Rice would be the skipper to get them there.

Arsenal have finished as runners-up in the last three Premier League seasons with Odegaard as captain. The north Londoners have given some generational Liverpool and Manchester City teams stern runs for their money in that time but come up short on each occasion.

Arteta's only trophy win to date was clinching the FA Cup in his first season as manager back in 2020. And Adams has criticised the coach for failing to take more action over the team's leadership as he suggested Rice, who joined the club in 2023, has displayed superior credentials to take the club to the next level.

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"[Arteta's] got the opportunity this year to actually turn into a winner," said Adams at a live recording of the Indo Sport podcast after suggesting Rice has more traits of a serial winner than his manager. The England midfielder joined the Gunners from West Ham two years ago and has quickly become an overwhelming favourite, but Arteta may not appreciate the dissent over his call.

"To win league titles, you have to be a [Jurgen] Klopp, you have to be a [Alex] Ferguson," Adams continued. "You have to lead by example, you have to be a winner, you have to go about your business, and that reflects in your captain. And making Odegaard captain is a reflection of Arteta.

"And I'm seeing Declan Rice as a captain, but I'm saying to Arteta, 'Come on, step up now. It's your time to be a winning manager, because you're not going to win the league with Odegaard as captain.

"I'm sorry. It's gonna be a rotation job, and you're going to get the same mentality of, 'Sometimes him and that [player] will come out and [bored groaning noises]. You've got someone in there who's gonna play every game all season, that's gonna encourage people to come in and do this and do that and lay the foundations of a title-winning team. Declan Rice can do that, Odegaard can't. Come on, Arteta, make him captain."

Rice, 26, has proved himself the more durable candidate in his career to date and made 103 appearances for Arsenal across his first two seasons. Odegaard, on the other hand, has endured his stints out on the sidelines and was absent for two months during a crucial autumn period last season.

It's evident Arteta sees leadership qualities in Rice given he wore the armband on the final day of last season, captaining the team to a 2-1 win at Southampton. He was also named captain at former employers West Ham at only 20 years old and led the club to their first European trophy in almost 60 years just prior to joining Arsenal.

Adams, who won four league titles and three FA Cups over the course of his 19-year Gunners career, took a long pause when asked if he was a fan of Arteta's in general. He clinched the old First Division crown on two occasions under George Graham before adding another two to his collection with Arsene Wenger at the helm.

The competition at the summit in England's top flight perhaps wasn't as deep then as it is today. Liverpool and Manchester United would routinely push the Gunners close in the battle for top honours, though the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City have since joined the list of perennial contenders.

There's nothing stopping both Odegaard and Rice taking a leading hand in Arsenal's business as they aim to end a 22-year Premier League title drought. But Adams believes that in order for the club's fortunes to change as genuine title contenders, it all starts with who's wearing the armband.