BEVERLY HILLS, June 07, (THEWILL) – English Premier League side, Arsenal, is reeling from having a transfer target, newly promoted Norwich midfielder, Emi Buendia, usurped by rivals Aston Villa, who signed substitute keeper Emilio Martinez from the Gunners side at the start of last season as well. With no Buendia, the north London outfit has turned once again to midseason Real Madrid loanee, Martin Odegaard.
THEWILL is monitoring reports that Arsenal’s Technical Director, Eduardo Cesar Daud Gaspar, popularly called “Edu”, is “convinced” that he can strike a deal with Real Madrid for another loan spell for the gifted young Norwegian midfielder at the Emirates for another season.
The fact of missing out on Buendia, who won the best player of the season award in the Championship for helping Norwich return to the EPL, to an Villa side that finished three places below the Gunners in 11th place, is something that does no bode well for the Gunners beyond the fact that like most sides they are cash-strapped but need to get some fresh talents in.
Buendia was supposed to be one of such talents, being on the Gunners radar for over a year before Villa swooped. The possibility of being snubbed by other players or losing out to other teams again may be part of why Edu is attempting the safe bet of sticking with Odegaard but there are factual grounds to indicate that it is not, of itself, such a safe bet.
Firstly, Arsenal failed to qualify for any European football, having finished 8th in the final league standings. Odegaard may not fancy being out of continental competitions for an entire season. Also, part of the reason he was frozen out of play time in Real was because of former manager Zinedine Zidane’s choice of squad formation.
Now, with a new coach in charge, Odegaard might fancy his chances under Carlo Ancelotti. This could prove to be his opportunity to demonstrate his abilities and cop a starting place for himself in a squad full of talented individuals but needing a fresh injection of youthful energy as the team tries to reinvent itself from its aging cast.
It is true that Odegaard grew an affection for Arsenal in the brief time he spent at the Emirates. Beyond his glowing words of the club, its players and the manager, his on-field demeanour gave the impression of someone who had embraced his surroundings and felt the club embrace him back, as something he possibly lacked in Madrid.
Those are the factors that make another loan deal an attractive prospect for the London club because Mikel Arteta will be able to get the midfielder back for a season, pay a nominal fee, temporally cross one task off the to-do list and get a player who will not be adapting from scratch and can quickly build from where he stopped last season. It will be a money-saving deal that could free up funds to be invested elsewhere.
Odegaard coming back will be an interesting addition to the type of football Arteta will be playing in the new season where his chances for excuses will be slim and his job could be on the line before midseason, depending on results and performances, given the time he has had on the job. Having players he can count on to deliver on his game plan will be ideal for his success at the Emirates in the 2021/2022 campaign. And Odegaard has shown he can be that.
Yet, it all depends on the player himself, on the one hand, and how things go with Ancelotti now at the helm in Madrid, on the other. Arsenal cannot force anything and it will be on their own advantage to have a plan B, in the event that they cannot get the Norwegian back to the north London club.
They can begin to look at reaching out to agents for players like Houssem Aouar, who though is technically more of a number eight than a number ten, has proved that he is capable of providing the creativity that was lacking for so much of the last campaign at the Emirates. Or Nabil Fekir, the French international who scored 23 goals and made eight assists for Lyon in the 2017/18 campaign before moving to Real Betis.
There is also Hakan Calhanoglu, the Turkish international in the Rossoneri squad, who looks set to leave on a free transfer this summer after failing to agree an “unsatisfactory” contract extension and may just be the ideal pick for the Gunners, who announced a £47.8 million loss for the 2019/20 financial year alone.
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.
