Arsenal have confirmed that they have secured the services of Martin Odegaard from Real Madrid on a loan deal for the remainder of the 2020/21 season.
Arsenal have made an official statement to confirm that they have signed Martin Odegaard from Real Madrid on loan. The 22-year-old Norwegian international has joined the Premier League heavyweights for the remainder of the 2020/21 season.
Odegaard was touted for big things upon returning from his impressive loan spell at Real Sociedad, having been recalled from a two-year spell with La Real early, last summer. However, the 22-year-old has struggled to nail down his spot in Zinedine Zidane’s side, managing just nine outings in all competitions till date. His situation alerted Arsenal, who have quickly moved to sign him.
✍️ It’s øfficial… ? pic.twitter.com/4eV5gNjK3x
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) January 27, 2021
The interest from Arsenal makes a great deal of sense, seeing as they have lacked a genuine creative powerhouse in the squad this season. While Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka provided respite in recent weeks, the Gunners have still been in need of another out-and-out attacking playmaker, especially following the infamous departure of Mesut Ozil.
On his part, the young Norwegian was intent on temporarily leaving Real Madrid, which brought Arsenal on the verge of signing him this week. With Los Blancos unwilling to let him join Real Sociedad again, Arsenal became the favourites to sign him and have now secured his services. Upon his arrival, Mikel Arteta expressed his delight at having landed Odegaard.
The Arsenal boss said, “It’s great that we’ve secured Martin to come to us until the end of the season. Martin is of course a player that we all know very well and although still young, he has been playing at the top level for a while. Martin will provide us with quality offensive options and we’re all excited to be integrating him into our plans between now and May.”
Say hello to our new No 11 ?? pic.twitter.com/uKZK1lq1WP
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) January 27, 2021
Odegaard, too, was visibly excited at joining Arsenal and in his first interview with the club media, he said, “In Norway, the Premier League is really big. Since I was a little kid there, we always watched all the games, me and my friends.”
“I think it’s the biggest league, especially in Norway, so for me it’s always been a dream to play in the Premier League and I always liked the way Arsenal played and everything about the club. So it’s a dream come true in many ways.”
Arsenal reportedly do not have the option to sign Odegaard permanently in the summer, as is the case in their deal with Dani Ceballos. The Gunners would be paying a £1.8 million loan fee for the Real Madrid midfielder plus his wages of £38,000 a week, bringing the total outlay to around £2.5 million. It will now be interesting to see how Odegaard fits in at Arsenal, with a big game against Manchester United coming up this weekend.
