Arsenal appears to have completed a key piece of business in the midfield with reports suggesting an agreement has been reached to sign Christian Norgaard from Brentford. The Gunners made the move after it became clear that Thomas Partey would not extend his stay at the Emirates.
Partey’s contract situation has dragged on since the end of the season, with both parties unable to settle on terms for a renewal. The midfielder is now expected to depart the club as a free agent in the coming days, prompting Arsenal to pivot quickly in the transfer market.
Norgaard emerged as the preferred replacement and, according to Foot Mercato, Arsenal’s approach to Brentford was swift and effective. The midfielder is believed to have agreed to the switch without hesitation, and Brentford have reportedly shaken hands on the deal after final discussions with Arsenal.
Leadership and consistency in midfield
Norgaard has been one of the most consistent midfield performers in the Premier League in recent seasons. His combination of positional discipline, work rate, and intelligent passing has made him a standout at Brentford. More importantly for Arsenal, he brings leadership experience as the club captain of the West London side.
The Gunners are looking to bolster their squad not only with talent but with personalities who can contribute to the dressing room culture. Mikel Arteta has repeatedly stressed the importance of mentality and resilience, and Norgaard’s qualities off the pitch are believed to be as important as what he offers on it.
Medical next before the move is sealed
With an agreement reportedly in place, the move now hinges on the completion of a medical. Once that is done, Norgaard will be officially unveiled as an Arsenal player. The transfer is not one that had been heavily speculated, but it speaks to Arsenal’s desire to act decisively and secure experienced depth in a crucial position.
Assuming there are no late complications, Arsenal will soon have a new midfield enforcer to count on as they prepare for the upcoming season.
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This is how I would have like to see Arsenal conduct all their business.
Though the replacement it self is a different kettle of fish.
To be fair, it’s always going to be easier to snag a £10m squad player than a £70m rated star forward 🙂
I did like the sounds of a dynamic younger player (like Agoumé) there. But we already have MLS and it’s to easy see why they might prefer an EPL-tested pair of feet as Zubimendi’s backup. Also, saves the financial powder for other positions…
This I d kind of deal arsenal wrap up in time, wen it comes to marquee signing it will be dragging on forever or never materialise. Other big teams are making statements signings for fuck sake, whatz arsenal problem
Well it was easy for Liverpool to get wirtz, and it cost over 100m, man utd got their man , so is mancity etc . It took forever to get declan rice who is not even as renowned as wirtz so stop making lame excuse for this arsenal people they just have problems. Periodt
Besides we need a balling midfielder and not just another decent baller coz we av merino already, i’ll say havertz too. To me they look similiar.
We need midfielders that can help odegaard shine coz odegaard was awful last season and the same will happen next season if we don’t get creative midfielders to play with him or even replace him sometimes.
Look at psg midfielders as case study , they almost don’t even av a DM, all their midfielders are ballers and smooth and not like merino or these bentford signing they are talking about
Great piece of business after losing Jorginho and an excellent addition to the squad.
I still hope Partey stays and this will be the cover we need to rest him at times.
The fee is reported to be, with add ons, around £15 million so hardly a dent in the coffers.
I agree Ken, (now I’m back) a “value for money, bang for the buck” signing. High ppotential playing with quality players like Declan Rice. Solid at the back doing the clean up work, to allow Rice to play further upfield.
Good to see one of the old stalwarts back OG and we’re in agreement straight away.
I’ve just watch this norgaard guy clip , why does arteta like defensive players, this guy can easily play center back, he’s another declan rice kind of player with no much skill, even partey is more skillful
Can’t he get player like camavinga who is skillful and also good defensively😭😭
@Tea.
Or may be you should be part of the Arsenal Scouting, Talent Spotting and Player Recruitment team. Then you can mesmerise us all with your expertise and that “Eye for talent” skills.
You seem to be wasting your talent away on these internet forums that have no impact on the decision makers at the club. 👍👌😊
Very funny @goonster
Well I’m number 10 footballer I reality but dreams are easily killed in africa/nigeria especially . I just hate that a midfielder like arteta favors defensive players over creative players/ attackers. Look at most of his recent signings keep favoring not witty players . Buying defenders and alike. He prefers dumb martinelli because of his stupid work rate which won’t have been needed if he was fluid like kvaratskelia or nico williams. I’m beginning to loose faith in arteta bit I really hope he proves me wrong for my beloveth arsenal sake and for his job sake too. Coz next season will be his last I he doesn’t deliver the PL or CL
@Tea
I can understand your frustration and irritation with Arteta. I myself have been frustrated by Arteta mostly because of the way we played this season. And also the way we played in the first half of 2023/24 before we had that mini break to Dubai where we came back a completely different team.
I have been highlighting how this team is ready but it’s up to Arteta to relax a bit and unleash it. He seems to be very Cautious and Risk averse. He seems to be very terrified of losing any given match so he comes in with a more: “Let’s not lose this game” mentality / attitude rather than the: “Let’s go and win this game” kind of mentality.
More braver managers that go in with the “Let’s go win this match” attitude will be more successful (Pep, Klopp, Slot, Enrique etc).
I am just hoping that this coming season Arteta tries to be a bit more proactive / progressive in his approach rather than his more methodical / pragmatic approach. 🤞👍🙏
Signings starting with a damp squib, is that so the rest of the business will look good? Norgard 31, not won much in his career, not played for a big club, very underwhelming. Very very surprised we are signing him. Next up kepa?
Plus his stats compared to Partey don’t stack. Strange.
To be honest it depends on what stats you look at. I have seen people posting different stats that show him well ahead of Partey but also other people are posting stats that show Partey in a better light.
So as always, this shows that we one can use the same Stats to prove our preferred slants on anything etc.. 😊
Goonster,
I agree with you on this point. While stats have there place, I personally believe that there’s to much emphasis put on them.
You can’t beat what the eye can see. 👍
Sky sports, not people. Look Partey has won more and played for better teams. Why at 31 is Norgard all of a sudden, the cats whiskers? I don’t get it.
Because he’s not the replacement for Partey
Very simple to follow
If Partey goes, he is? Both play no6?
Zubimendi is the replacement for Partey apparently.
He’s not being bought to directly replace Partey though, they have different profiles. He’s filling in the Jorginho “backup” slot. Nørgaard is more a classic DM, so evidently Arteta opted for a player who can provide defensive solidity in certain games, to reduce the amount of tracking back that Rice and Ødegaard have to do to cover. Which was an issue last season as we all know. Will he be as good as Jorginho? Well his numbers last season were better. Few were blown away by the acquisition of Jorginho at the time, and it turned out well enough.
One other thing that is good about this deal (as I see it) is that it doesn’t block a route for MLS to move into that position in future. If we acquired Agoumé or a similar young starlet, MLS would be always stuck holding down left back … and then probably looking for another club eventually.
MLS is another steel player buddy. dont you get it. We need skillful and witty players. U won’t compare MLS with nwaneri in terms of witt and skill will you?
MLS is more the type of player you’re asking for – he’s very skilled. The type of player who’s very good at keeping the ball – he just happens to be a tremendous athlete, which really helps in defensive situations. Partey was/is similar in that respect, but he’s on the decline imo.
No I wouldn’t. They have different skillsets. You’re looking for flair over team fit. Which is fine, but there are many strategic reasons we don’t just go out acquire a team full of creative attacking midfielders.
You’ll be happy to learn we’re now in for Eze. He’s the type of player you’ll love.
Good analysis, Bergkampfwagon. Arsenal needs players like Norgaard.
Strange indeed!
We were outrun and outplayed by psg midfielders, don’t we learn at all??
Its skill mostly and some steel that win game and not only steel
@,Tea we have creativity in Odegard and coming Zubimendy, Only one of Rice/Merino /Norgard will join this two.
Odegard– Creative player and passer
Zubimendi-Passer and defensive.
Rice- box to bo midfielder..
The likes of Merino/ONorgard would be good substitutes.
I think Odegaard and Zubimendi are very skillful players (very intelligent footballers on the ball).
To me Zubimendi seems like an upgrade in terms of pure natural talent, intelligence / skill and ability. He might not come good as this is the EPL but from having watched him since we started getting linked to him the 2022, he seems to be much more suited to that Deep Laying Midfielder role. He seems to be much more assured, calmer at recieving the ball from our defence / playing from the back (Beating the press) and progressing.
Rice is a Box to Box (Lampard type).
Norgaard and Merino seem to be just solid subs.
So yeah, I can agree with you on the likes of Rice, Norgaard and Merino not being easy on the eye / skillful. But Zubimendi and Odegaard are definitely skillful / good on the ball technical players. 👍
And if odegaard is injured or remain awful like last season or any misfortune hit him so who gunner replace him? I see no one but nwaneri who arteta foolishly is reluctant to play
@Tea
That’s like saying:
“If Rodri is out who replaces him?
If Modric is out who replaces him?
If Salah is out for Liverpool who replaces him?
If Isak is out for Newcastle then who replaces him?
If Vitinha is out of PSG’s midfield then who replaces him?
If Van Djik is out who replaces him?
Etc..
It’s nesr impossible for any team to have like for like (same level of player) for each position.
I agree with you but ;
First odegaard is not in the world class frame like the true ballers you mentioned , I wish he is. And yes it will be nigh impossible to replace a world class player but its not totally impossible, what ambitious team do is to have one or two players that are close in terms of skill and ability to the elite baller in the team. Nwaneri could have been utilised has he has the traits but again arteta is unreasonably stubborn and he won’t even sign a player like odegaard. And veira is looking like a flop signing. Arteta just haven’t gotten it right when it comes to signing and managing true creative players
IMO
Just because Odegaard has a very poor season does not mean he is not a baller. He won our player of the season for two consecutive seasons. But it has to be said, this season he was absolutely atrocious. But so was every single experienced / first team players (apart from may be Gabriel, Timber). To me everyone else was just purely poor or just just above average (inconsistent). Was not impressed by anyone apart from Gabriel, Timber and the youngsters (Nwaneri, Skelly).
Well @goonster
A true baller can’t go awful for a whole season so that rules odegaard out as a maestro coz he had an entire awful season, I think odegaard has reached his peak and his peak aint good enough. Mark my words and come next season I hope I am wrong for beloveth arsenal sake and for his career sake too.
Finally, I hope you realise that odegaard is the reason we had a not great season ,he was dragging us back and he’s role is the most crucial. No other senior member of the team was anywhere near awful as he was
@Tea
Don’t worry. I will come back and remimd you of this comment.
I always promise people on here and later when I remind them of their sensationalistic comments they get upset.
👍🤞😊
Lolz
@Goonster
Please do coz I really do hope I’m wrong and this midfield bunch can win us the league or CL or both
Tea, so it was just down to one player, Odeegard, that “we had not a great season” ? Nothing to do with all the injuries we suffered to our main starting 11 ?
We’ve needed a rotation option for Ødegaard for years. I said last year before he was injured that losing him for any length of time was my greatest concern for the season ahead.
Fortunately the window has only been open two weeks and we have two months to go. It looks like Eze is joining and he will be an amazing rotation option who can also play on the left wing. I am so excited about getting him in.
I think zubi is more jorginho than partey – more about clever positioning which helps him keep possession and avoid pressure, whereas partey is/was physically stronger, has better close control and is more able to use feints to turn away from pressure. I’m not saying either is better – partey may be more aesthetically pleasing at times, but zubimendi can be as/more effective. Both are good passers, but I think zubimendi, like jorginho, is marginally better and I’m hopeful he’ll help supply our attack in better and more varied ways. Like you said, we won’t know until we see zubimendi in the EPL, and arteta may tweak the system next season anyway (he has made adjustments each season to try to stop us being too predictable – imo his changes hurt us last season, but it’s a little hard to tell because of the injuries)
Goonster, I agree with you about how Zubimendi plays. From what I’ve seen of him he’s not a DM in the sense of a Partey. He reminds me of Mikel when he played for us, sitting in front of the back four, making himself available for an easy pass and keeping the ball moving.
I like Norgaard. He’s got the declan rice kind of attitude that is such a scarce commodity in that team. He’s no ‘squad player’.
Agree 100%
Good point
Nordgaard who did a brutal career ending leg breaking tackle on Martinelli joined for 15m aged 31. Scandinavian midfield partnership with Odegaard. Not a fascinating heart warming business. To start the long awaited transfer with this low profile transfer is not great. Nordgaard is only good for promoted teams. He’s destined for Carabao Cup and knows little about European football. Even Man City failed with aged players in midfield with Gundogan and De Bruyne. My rating 4 from 10.
Norgaad is mainly steel i agree and i agree skill, more skill is required. We have enough steel_ we gave raya another gold glove last seaso afterall.
Its not enough @sylva. Non of declan rise or zubimendi Is even as skillfull and smooth as partey. We need two creative midfielders and just one holding. Look at psg midfield lineup again or iniesta xavi basquet combo. You’ll realise even odegaard is not really more skillful than bosquet alone. This Brentford guy is absolute no brainer, in a team where you already have rice , merino, zubimendi. Comon, the whole creative duty falls on poor odegaard (who i hope he step up next season) alone
You think that Partey is more skillful than Zubimendi? 😮
Yea I think but I’m not so sure coz I haven’t seen zubimendi but im sure either him or rice could have suffice as our dm holding midfielder. You will agree with me zubimendi is no vitinha and that’s the kind of midfield partnership odegaard should be having.
Anyway let’s see how zubimendi pans out but that Brentford guy is a stupid stupid signing
@Tea
But you made a definitive claim that none of Rice and Zubimendi are as skillful and smooth as Partey. But then in this reply you are admitting that you have never watched Zubimendi play.
So how did you come to such a conclusion that Zubimendi is not as skillful and smooth as Partey when you have never seen him play a single match?? 😊
All you need to do is watch a few YouTube clips of Zubimendi (I know that they are heavily edited and don’t show the whole picture), but just watch a few of them and compare his on the ball / in possesion intelligence to Parteys. Just his overall attributes (Defensive, offensive, midfield control etc).
Or just re-watch the recent Nations Cup game that Spain played against Portugal, focus on Zubimendi. Or just re-watch a few Spain games during the Euros (Against France and in the Final against England). He was a substitute but whenever he came on he looked so assured.
👍
@goonster
What I’m saying is that partey, rice , zubimending are not good enough for CM , to me they are all DM. We should get a CM like vitinha or even make odegaaard a CM and nwaneri an AM or anyhow but rice,zubimendi , odegaard is not fluid enough for me.
Also I’ve seen zubimendi play but not just close enough, I have a keen eye for true ballers , if he was to be skillful and witty I’m sure I would have noticed him, afterall I don’t watch French league but the little I saw from vitinha was enough to tag him a true baller.
But I’ll check zubimendi out on YouTube but I’ll doubt he’s a maestro from what I’ve seen in him
@Tea
I think you just being a tunnel vision monster. PSG winning the CL has seems to have broken your brain that now you seem to be looking at every aspect of football through the PSG lense. Until next season next season when another club wins the CL and you could end up jumping on that team’s bandwagon.
And I do think that Madrid, Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal will be more stronger next season. I think Arsenal and Man City surely can’t get any worse than they did this season.
But we will see. 😊
*I haven’t seen d zubimendi much
IMO my midfield trio will be nwaneri( a player like vitinha), odegaard, rice or zubimendi.
Up Gunners!
Nørgaard is a good signing. Partey wants a pay rise to stay but who says he will stay uninjured another year, history says he won’t? Of course any player can get injured but some players never seem to get injuries whilst others, like Partey, are expected to breakdown every season. Our big problem now is the striker situation and if we don’t sign one of the two we seem to have been getting every day since the window opened then we can kiss goodbye to the PL and CL. If we fail again, Arsenal should kiss goodbye to Arteta and Berta too!
I like this guy, he has an exceptional passing range,good
in set pieces.. and looks good on the pitch
As I remember him Nørgaard can hit 50/60 yard passes with pin point accuracy. I don’t expect that he’ll play as often as he’d like, but he’ll be someone to come off the bench later in games to help seal games, and to probably rotate with Zubimendi.
Yep, more Arteta clones…
My god the ego on this guy is of the charts.
In a couple of years our entire squad is just gonna be different variations of Arteta.
He’d probably play himself in if he still had the legs 🤣