There has been a massively unnerving over-reaction to Arsenal losing out to Aston Villa in the race for Emi Buendia‘s signature, as I am sure that Arsenal have other (and maybe better) targets for his postion.
Everyone seems to have forgotten that Mikel Arteta invested a lot of time and patience in integrating Martin Odegaard into the Arsenal team last season, and he has already made it clear that he expects the young Norwegian to return to the Emirates. Has everyone forgotten what Arteta said just a couple of weeks ago?
“We have a very clear and strong opinion on what we would like to do,”
“He’s not our player. We will have discussions in the next few weeks. And respect first of all because he’s a Real Madrid player, and we will have those communications.
“We’ve tried to make everything that we could to get Martin performing for the team, which I think he’s done.
“And he’s adapted really well to our way of playing and to our football club. And hopefully we have given him as well the hope and the feeling that it could be a good place for him.”
And today, the Arsenal tansfer guru Chris Wheatley, writing in football.london, has made it clear that the Gunners have not given up on Odegaard. In article talking about Buendia having been a real target for ArsenalHe wrote: “However, Martin Odegaard remains the main target this summer and technical director Edu remains convinced that he can reach a deal with Real Madrid, whether it be a loan extension or a permanent move.”
There has been much cold water thrown on the rumours since Carlo Ancelotti was appointed as Real Madrid coach, but it seems that Arsenal themselves still think that we have a big chance of getting the youngster back next season…