August 20, (THEWILL) – North London club Arsenal have won to race to complete the signing of Martin Odegaard from Real Madrid on a permanent deal for a reported fee of around £30 million and register him as a Gunner before the close of work on Friday to make him eligible to be in the squad when they face Chelsea in Sunday’s derby.
As THEWILL reported, the Norwegian spent the second half of last season on loan at Emirates Stadium and impressed the team management enough to seek to sign him on a permanent basis and have him take a four-year deal to return to the Emirates.
After the loan ended, Odegaard had returned to parent club Madrid but was not part of their matchday squad for last week’s 4-1 win over Deportivo Alaves on the opening weekend of the new La Liga season, even with a new manager at the Santiago Bernabeu in the person of Carlo Ancelotti.
There was the possibility that his limited playing time at Real, which has seen him fielded in only eight league games for Los Blancos since joining in 2015, and the majority of his time at the club spent out on loan, was going to continue.
It was apparently what spurred his decision to leave Spain and continue his career elsewhere. With the softening of the Real stance on his unavailability, Arsenal quickly moved to fulfil their objective of restoring the attacking midfielder to the Gunners’ overall strategy for the season.
The official confirmation of the success of the transfer came from the Arsenal official website on Friday. As a move that was necessary to fill the midfield vacuum created with the pre-season injury to Thomas Partey, it was ideal that the 22-year-old is now in contention for the Sunday home league clash with Chelsea.
It was easy to appreciate what Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta saw in Odegaard’s 20 appearances in all competitions, 14 of which were in the EPL, for Arsenal after joining on loan at the end of the January transfer window, to make him desire to ask for a permanent move.
In those games, although Odegaard only scored one goal and provided two assists, his chance-creation was second to none. After losing their creative chance-provider Mesut Ozil, it was good to have someone create 20 chances in half the season. It was the most created of any Arsenal player during his spell on loan, three more than Emile Smith Rowe, with whom Odegaard played in the midfield.
The Norwegian was also in the top ranks for dribbles completed. Only, Nicolas Pepe with 14 completed dribbles, Thomas Partey with 15 and the pacy dribbler Bukayo Saka’s 18 surpassed his tally of 13 in the league. And, that was just in his first experience with the team.
Of all the other signings this season, of which Odegaard is now the third signing of the window for Arsenal, following the arrivals of Nuno Tavares, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Ben White, the Norwegian will be the most suited to hit the ground running as one with the advantage of experience.
That is what will be most beneficial to Arteta’s side after the humiliation of being beaten 2-0 by newly promoted Brentford in their first game of the campaign and the prospects of more damage to come with matches against UEFA Champions Chelsea and EPL Champions Manchester City back-to-back.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
