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Report: Attacker ready to join Arsenal, tells agents to negotiate move
According to Sport, Martin Odegaard has performed a dramatic U-turn after deciding to leave Real Madrid this summer and has told his agents to negotiate a move back to Arsenal.
Odegaard spent the second half of last season on loan at the Emirates Stadium and impressed Mikel Arteta enough to persuade the Arsenal boss to try and re-sign him this summer – hopefully on a permanent basis this time.
Arteta is in the market for a No.10 and he had hoped to lure Odegaard back to north London but the Norwegian international indicated earlier this month that he wanted to make it at Madrid under new boss Carlo Ancelotti.
It looked like Arsenal would have to look elsewhere in their search for a playmaker and we’ve been linked with James Maddison in recent weeks – although Leicester’s valuation means any potential deal will be difficult.
However, it appears there has been a dramatic twist as Sport claims that Odegaard’s poor performance during Real Madrid’s pre-season defeat to Rangers at the weekend has changed the landscape at the Bernabeu.
The Spanish outlet says Madrid bosses were left ‘exasperated’ by the 22-year-old’s lacklustre display and they’re now considering offloading the attacking midfielder once again this summer as they don’t feel he has what it takes to play for the La Liga giants.
Odegaard over Maddison?
A bit of an over-reaction from one friendly defeat, you might say, but it appears Odegaard has been left distinctly unimpressed by Madrid’s scathing assessment as Sport claims the player is now wanting to leave the club.
According to the report, the player has already instructed his agents to secure a move this summer and his preference is to re-join Arsenal as he wants to play in the Premier League again and feels our style of play suits him best.
If true, this is certainly an interesting turn of events and will no doubt be a big boost to Arteta. We desperately need a No.10 and Odegaard would be an excellent signing if we could get him on a permanent deal this time.
I’m a big fan of Maddison as well but he’s likely to cost around £60m so Odegaard would be far cheaper. He also knows the club, the manager and his team mates already so I think the smart move would be to go for the Norwegian, if possible.
It would also leave money left over for Arsenal to go for the world class central midfielder that we desperately need. Arteta also needs another goalkeeper and possibly even a right-back and striker if Bellerin and Lacazette are sold so we need all the money we can save.
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