Arsenal battled hard to sign Martin Odegaard in the last summer transfer window.
The Norwegian had impressed at the Emirates in the second half of last season and Mikel Arteta appeared to be determined to have him in his squad.
The Gunners have finally signed him, but is he pulling his weight at the club?
One of the arguments against signing him at the time was that we already had Emile Smith Rowe.
Now it appears that the Englishman is a better option to the former Real Madrid man.
El Nacional claims he is struggling at the Emirates and is clearly behind Smith Rowe in the pecking order at the moment.
The report praised Carlo Ancelotti, who had reportedly urged Los Blancos to cash in on him because he isn’t in his plans.
Not every Arsenal fan was convinced that Odegaard would thrive in the Premier League and his current struggles are proving them right.
Now that the midfielder’s honeymoon period is over, it seems he wasn’t truly the right fit for Arsenal.
The blossoming Smith Rowe could see most fans forget Odegaard was signed to bring creativity to our midfield.
Do you think he will come good or he is yet another player signed by Mikel Arteta that simply isn’t the right fit?
An article from Ime
I believe he was bought for a possession style of football because Arteta liked him and xhaka knocking it sideways and backwards just to try and keep possession in midfield. He is like xhaka, when he is in the team, he actually achieves nothing of note and only contributes to recycling the ball to other players to do their thing. A very strange signing because we had him last season for a good look at and was totally underwhelming. I feel because of injury and a lack of impact from certain so called key players, our style of football has evolved and these players are now redundant when they become available. Still we may be able to get 10 mil for xhaka and Odergaard when we come to release them in the future, unless we cant shift them like a few others and they just fly away to relative average teams on the continent.
Give him a chance. The talent is obvious there, and don’t forget he has already been the decisive factor in one of our victories this year.
£30 mill wasted. Should have bid for Yves Bissouma. Partey, Bissouma and Lokonga would be fearsome. Sadly Odegaard lacks strength and will. Waste.
Thank you Sean! How could Arteta, Edu and anyone else involved not see that?
Still too early to say imo. It’s clear he’s a very good passer (probably the best in our squad) but is playing at a slower pace. Needs to be more decisive and aggressive at times – that’s what Laca has and why we play so much better when he’s in the side, even if his passing ability is quite average.
Utter piffle. He’s doing fine, and he’s still young. It’s only the form of ESR and Laca that’s keeping him out. You need multiple players in each position so the idea that we don’t need him because we’ve got someone else is puerile. We’ve just had the most extraordinarily successful transfer window ever and as usual we’ve got Arsenal fans desperate to find fault.
absolute nonsense, odegaard is just adjusting to a different style of play that we’re using now and has the intelligence and technical ability to make the switch easy. Also, he’s not competiting with ESR right now, if anything its laca thats dropped him… and lacas obviously not the long term solution.
No matter how you look at it, if ESR gets injured/etc, he’s the only other player that’s a proper quality CAM so he’s needed.
God help us then, a good job we have Pepe to step in then.
He needs to bulk up a little.
To me he looks like a proper 16 year old. Look weak and easy to bully.
I am saying this as someone that rated Odegaard when he was here on loan last season.
For squad depth someone has to be behind ESR in the AMF position….he is needed…..
Still early days and he is only 22 and from a foreign league with very different ways to our Prem.
TBH, he HAS been mildly disapointing, but as I say, it’s still early days and I don’t believe in panicking.
IF, in another year he is where he is now, that will be the time to say he has not made the grade. Not before though. Our midfield is not deep enough to sell players with ability and he has that, but neds time to adjust.
Unlike Xhaka, who was total immobile rubbish from the very start and right through to his injury. HE OUGHT TO BE SOLD. TONIGHT, WERE IT POSSIBLE!!
Some of these comments… jesus. The man has a few weak games and suddenly he is a waste of money. A) He was great last season, B) The emphasis has clearly shifted towards ESR so he has less of an impact. When he came on against Liecester, he stabilized the midfield and we regained the initiative after being hammered by Liecester for 15 straight minutes. Also, he is young, has potential and 30m is peanuts in today’s market. Please stop judging players every week. In a few games he will be your favourite again. Memory of goldfish…
Totally agree, no need bashing a player after a patch of poor form, we know how technically gifted he is, that’s whey he was brought in!
He is slow do not move the ball, not strong for tackle, always urging others to move and tackle