Martin Odegaard made his full Arsenal debut against Leeds yesterday, and played a key role in our 4-2 victory.
The Norwegian moved to North London in January on loan from Real Madrid, and is currently expected to return to the Spanish capital come the end of the season.
Odegaard had picked up two substitute appearances prior to the weekend, making little impression in the minor minutes he had received, but made much more of an impact in his first start, and could well be in line to feature more heavily in the coming matches.
Odegaard arrived at Real Madrid with quite the following after he set the Norwegian top division alight at the age of 15 years-old, but hasn’t had the desired impact for his parent club as of yet.
The 22 year-old now finds himself lining up alongside younger players in Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe, with his younger compatriots having already made their mark on the first-team, and Odegaard believes he is settling in nicely, and claims he is ‘proud’ to have joined the club.
“It’s a bit different but I think I am adapting pretty okay,” he said.
“The way they took me into the team – my teammates – and how they treated me, as well as the manager and everyone in the club, they helped me since the first minute.
“I feel really comfortable and a part of the team, so it’s been easy to come in to this team because of the way they are and the way they treated me. I’m just really happy to be here and I’m proud to be a part of this team.”
Has Odegaard given Mikel Arteta a welcome selection head-ache ahead of two big games with Benfica and Man City coming up this week?
Patrick