The Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta made it clear at the end of last season that his priority this summer was to try and persuade Real Madrid to allow Martin Odegaard to return to the Emirates next season.
As Arteta said clearly: “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.”
But it seems that the arrival of Carlo Ancelotti as Madrid coach has changed the situation, and despite Arsenal’s best efforts, the Norwegian playmaker has now made a very moving goodbye statement to Arsenal fans from his Instagram account.
He wrote……
@arsenal , Thank you so much for these 6 months.
My time with the Arsenal family will always hold a special place in my heart.
I wanna thank everyone in and around the club for the way you made me feel like a part of the family since the first day.
Special thanks to the fans, even without you guys at the stadium for the majority of the season, I felt you with me at all times.
A huge thank you to the boss and his staff for everything I’ve learned during my stay.
Thank you also to all my teammates for such a great time on and off the pitch. Will miss you all😘
Thank you, gunners family. Always in my heart ❤️🤍
So, it looks like Artet is going to now have to look even further afield for his elusive Number 10 that is so desperately needed for next season.
Let’s all hope he manages to find the perfect alternative. Fingers crossed!
Thanks Odegaard. We appreciate your time at the club.
The team under achieved last season.
Arteta should buy Aouar
Good decision
I see this as a standard farewell message to a club that treated him well and from which I departed without rancor. We honestly don’t see this as necessarily implying a foreclosure of a return to the club.
Fingers crossed as advised
Didn’t wanted him back anyway, did okay but wasn’t spectacular and fed up of us signing players on loan. Now the dream would be maddison but being realistic sabitizer or perreira at reported £15m are achievable.
How about ESR starting as a 10 with Willock as his competition?
Do we truly need a new 10? We already have 2 talented youngsters and no European football.
Money better spent elsewhere, and eventually checkbook Arteta will have to coach up players, no go full on City on a shopping spree.
That is my biggest disappointment with Arteta, 10% coaching and 90% checkbook managing. As for Edu, he’s a “yes man” and rubber stamp for Arteta.
Likely to bring in 10-12 players total over his 20 month reign, already 7 players previously before this window.
🏹 while for the Attacking midfielder if we can’t get Jack Grealish or James Madison i would rather we get high quality players and cheap the likes of Daichi Kamada or Marcel Sabitzer a Vercentile intelligent player or Matheus perreira young age good skillful player to unlock defenses and premier League proven period 🤔
Martin Odegaard is gone, Ceballos is gone and what did we gain in return? Absolutely nothing, a complete and utter waste of money – bleeding the club of resources, yet again. (Maybe we should just stick to the deadwood process).
In fact, all our recent transactions are bleeding the club: selling Xhaka, Mavraponos and Guendouzi at a discount and, the most
egregious, Ben White for 50M.
All this is happening at a time when we should be using our financial muscle to get good players on the cheap from financially distressed European clubs. (Idiot’s guide to running a big club, Chapter 1.)
Since his appointment as manager, Arteta has drained more than 150M from the club, in my estimate. This is what happens when we reward incompetence…opting to keep him in position after the disastrous season. ARTETA OUT.