Arsenal has identified Philippe Coutinho as an alternative if they cannot sign Martin Odegaard permanently.
The latter has been on loan at the Emirates since January and he has been one of Arsenal’s best players.
His fine form has forced the Gunners to consider keeping him as a part of their team permanently.
But it also means that Real Madrid would have more reasons to want to keep him when he returns in the summer.
The midfielder will want to keep playing regularly as he has done at Arsenal so far and that could play to the Gunner’s advantage if Madrid cannot guarantee him that.
But if the Spanish side agrees to make him the key man in their team next season, Arsenal will have to look elsewhere.
Express Sports say the Gunners have identified Coutinho as one player that can fill the void that Odegaard would leave behind.
The report says the Gunners want to take advantage of Barcelona’s hesitance to pay more money to Liverpool for the Brazilian.
If he plays 100 games for the Catalans, they would have to pay the Reds £20m and he has 10 more games to reach that number.
another ozil, no thanks
I rate Coutinho, but it’s been a bit since he’s been at the top of his game on a consistent basis…not to mention he would have exceedingly high wage demands…personally I don’t think he’s been humbled enough to come here with the purest of intentions, so he would be little more than a hired mercenary looking to go elsewhere should he find his game again…rather have someone a bit younger(turns 29 in June), who’s hungrier and wants to grow with the team
After the massive losses in Covid, and losing so many players on a free Arsenal has racked up more than 150mills worth of debt. But the worst is yet to come. Torreira Guendouzi and Saliba loom as potential vast loss deals while Pepe Lacazette and Aubameyang are potentially financially crippling if the club can not get a tune out of them or sell. So Arsenal is very unlikely to buy a Barcelona reject wanting a retirement package like Willian. Even Odegaard is not a guaranteed success because like so many they play well to win a contract but once they get their guaranteed no performance clause 3 year contract they go into cruise mode. Performance based contracts need to be introduced asp.
There’s always a risk and especially at these times.
28 yrs old is a good peak age but salaries for such player will be high. If am Arsenal transfer staffs. At such times I will look elsewhere cos we still have a few players that we need to offload. And besides our star striker Aub is inconsistent n such high salary.
Personally they should set a max cap.
Odegard for me is worth at max 35m cos RM is not going to use him. Anything above I will look elsewhere at such times.
It’s good to scout an alternative to Odegard because I doubt we can get him permanently. The best we can have is, perhaps, an extension of his loan deal like we did with Caballos.
But I doubt Coutinho is the one.
I think we should be looking more to younger players who can give us their best years; and who can command a good price if we decide to part company