The manager of Arsenal football club, Mikel Arteta has described the club’s loanee, Martin Odegaard as a player with special qualities. He said though Arsenal would give him time to settle down, the 22-year-old Norwegian attacking midfielder would give the club “more creativity in the final third”.
Martin Odegaard left Real Madrid to join Arsenal on a six-month loan spell on January 27, 2021. Arsenal reportedly paid the sum of €2million to bring the attacking midfielder to North London.
The Norwegian agreed to the deal because he wanted a club where he can have regular playing time. He has not been enjoying such a luxury at Real Madrid since he returned to the club last summer from Real Sociedad where he spent the 2019-2020 season on loan.
According to an interview he granted Arsenal’s official website after he sealed his loan move to the Premier League club, Martin Odegaard decided to join Arsenal because of the club’s style of football.
Immediately Arsenal unveiled him on Wednesday, January 27, the 23-year-old attacking midfielder resumed training with the team ahead of Arsenal league match against Manchester United scheduled for Saturday, January 30.
Day 1 💪 pic.twitter.com/e6eniJvDYO
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) January 27, 2021
However, the player who is compared to Mesut Ozil in terms of his creativity, ability to assist strikers, and create scoring chances for himself and other players, might not have the opportunity to start Arsenal’s league game on Saturday. But he is definitely in the plans of coach Mikel Arteta.
Arteta said: “He’s a player that we followed for some time and we believe that he’s got some special qualities that we need, that we have been missing.
“Now we have to give him a little bit of time. He hasn’t played that many minutes in Madrid, but he’s been training hard and he looks so excited, as we are to have another big talent at our club.
“He’s a specialist to play in the pocket, to be in the No 8 and No 10 positions. He can play off the side. A really creative player, really comfortable on the ball in tight spaces. The capacity to create chances, to score goals.
“Something he has improved a lot is his work rate without the ball. It’s another option to give us more creativity in the final third and to set in different ways against certain teams.”
🇳🇴 Our Norwegian Gunner! pic.twitter.com/6rt6h3YTPh
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) January 27, 2021
Martin Odegaard might not return to Real Madrid at the end of his 6-month loan spell which will expire on June 30, 2021. However, this can only work out for the Norwegian if his performance within the next few months is impressive enough for coach Mikel Arteta and Arsenal’s board.
Recall that before he returned to Real Madrid on July 20, 2020, from Real Sociedad, he succeeded in making himself one of the most important stars at Sociedad. At the end of the 2019-2020 season, he was able to score 7 goals and provided 9 assists in 36 competitions for Sociedad.
Initially, Odegaard was scheduled to spend two seasons at Real Sociedad but Real Madrid halted the plan because of the form the Norwegian picked up last season. Unfortunately for the attacking midfielder, he was not able to reciprocate the same form at Arsenal in the last four months. Hence, Madrid allowed him to join Arsenal on loan.
