Arsenal Invincible delivers Declan Rice/Martin Odegaard captain verdict after "out of order" Tony Adams comments

Arsenal legend Ray Parlour has used a cricket analogy to disagree with Tony Adams's Declan Rice captain claim, in an exclusive interview with Sports Mole.

The Gunners entered the new season with Martin Odegaard sporting the armband once again after a squad vote, although the decision did not go down well with iconic skipper Tony Adams, who has been banging the Rice captain for a few months.

The former centre-back claimed in September that Rice is better-placed to elevate Arsenal to a title-winning level than Odegaard, comments which were labelled "out of order" at the time and have since resurfaced on social media.

Rice has only ever worn the captain's armband once for Arsenal - against Southampton on the final day of the 2024-25 Premier League season - and Bukayo Saka is currently above his colleague in the skippers' pecking order under Mikel Arteta.

Despite his long-standing relationship with Adams, Parlour would not strip Odegaard of the armband, as he fears that such a move could create discontent in the dressing room.

Ray Parlour disagrees with Tony Adams over Declan Rice/Martin Odegaard Arsenal captain claim

“I don't think you need to change anything like that," Parlour said. "I can see where Tony Adams is coming from, and he was a great skipper himself. But a captain's not as an important person as say in cricket, where you've got to make decisions. In football, you've got to have leaders all over the park.

“Centre-forwards who are leaders, centre-halves who, if you're not captain, are leaders. In our team, we had six or seven captains. If Declan did become captain, he would be a great captain.

"I'm not saying Odegaard's not a good captain because he brings a lot to the youngsters - he's a great trainer, works hard every day, and he's a good role model as a captain.

“But would it upset Odegaard if he suddenly gets the captain’s armband taken off him? And Declan Rice doesn’t really expect it. He'd do a job if he was given it, but he doesn't expect it. Is it worth changing it to upset the changing room? I wouldn't go down that road.”

How did Mikel Arteta respond to Tony Adams comments?

Adams's comments were put to Arteta before the opening game of the 2025-26 Premier League season, and the Arsenal boss affirmed that his players voted for Odegaard to retain the armband by "100 miles" in a unanimous decision.

"My opinion is clear and it's not just my opinion - it's all the staff and especially the players. I asked them to vote (for) the captain and I got the result yesterday," Arteta told the media.

"By a mile away, by a big, big 100 miles, everybody was choosing the same person - Martin Odegaard - which is the most clear sign that you can have. It's how they feel about who has to be their captain to defend, improve and win the matches that we want to win, so there’s no question about that.

“There is (a vote) every year especially because we change (personnel) a lot and we change the leadership groups because a lot of the players that were there are now gone.

"So we need to re-establish that and because it gives you so much information, how they feel about themselves and how they see (the captain) as a leader. It was really interesting to analyse all the data and to gather information."

Odegaard will don the captain's armband for Arsenal once again when the Gunners tackle Brighton & Hove Albion in Saturday's Premier League match, where he will endeavour to build on his underwhelming total of two assists and no goals from 15 appearances this season.

Ray Parlour was speaking to Sports Mole on behalf of NetBet Sports Betting.