Martin Odegaard is on the verge of sealing his loan move to Arsenal after completing his medical at the club today, January 26. The 22-year-old Norwegian attacking midfielder is expected to spend the rest of the 2020-2021 season at Arsenal after failing to get a regular playing time at Real Madrid since the season commenced.
Before his representatives began to talk to Arsenal, Martin Odegaard has managed to make only 7 La Liga Appearances since he returned to Madrid from Real Sociedad where he spent the 2019-2020 season on loan.
The Norwegian midfielder is coming to Arsenal with the hope of having more playing time and hopefully establishing himself as a world football star, a feat he has not been able to achieve at Real Madrid since he was promoted to the club senior team in 2017.
Now that he has completed his medical at Arsenal, the North London club is likely to announce his loan deal any moment from now.
If he can reciprocate the form he displayed at Real Sociedad where he scored 7 goals and provided 9 assists in 36 appearances, Arsenal might be tempted to retain him permanently.
Recall that it was the form he displayed at Sociedad that forced Real Madrid to halt his loan spell at the club and registered him to Madrid’s first-team squad for this season. But when he returned to Madrid, the best Martin Odegaard was able to do was to make only 9 appearances in all competitions without providing any assist nor scoring any goal.
Even though he couldn’t stamp his authority at Real Madrid, he attracted the interest of a couple of European clubs which included Leicester City but the Norwegian chose Arsenal instead.
Martin Odegaard to the Emirates I’m hearing? 😍pic.twitter.com/PVj32AAFlL
— GolazoFirst (@golazo1st) January 21, 2021
Meanwhile, Arsenal football club are said to be in talks about playing the first leg of the Europa League last-32 game against Benfica at a neutral venue.
Officially, UEFA has fixed the match to take place at Benfica’s home ground, Estádio da Luz, on February 18, 2021, but Arsenal want the venue to be changed to a neutral ground outside Portugal.
The reason for the reported talk for a change of venue is based on the restriction the government placed on travels from the UK to Portugal due to the spread of the new variant of COVID-19.
But Benfica are reportedly insisting that the Europa League match should take place at their home ground as planned.
As it stands, if the talks to play the match at a neutral venue fails, Arsenal would have to find another means to honor the game while they prepare to host Benfica at the Emirates Stadium for the second leg tie on February 25.
