Buendia signing will make more sense than Odegaard
Reports recently emerged that Arsenal have stepped up their pursuit for Norwich City playmaker Emi Buendia.
The news did not go right with some sections of the fan base. Some pointed out that Arsenal should look at players plying their trade at a better league than the Championship. While others say that the Gunners should make Real Madrid loanee Martin Odegaard their priority signing over anyone.
However, there are few aspects that makes Odegaard’s signing irrational. First, Arsenal don’t have the say on the Norwegian international, who is believed to be given more chances at Santiago Bernabeu next season.
Second, the young midfielder won’t come cheap. And third, most important of all, he plays in the preferred position of Emile Smith Rowe.
If the Gunners do pass the first stage of convincing Real Madrid to sell their coveted 22-year-old, they will be duly expected to stump up a big price.
That purchase might end up with a big hole in Arsenal’s transfer budget for the upcoming show window. Currently valued at €40.00m by the Transfermarkt, he will definitely have many suitors at that price tag.
Thus, it is safe to say that a bidding war will shoot up his price. And let’s say if the London club somehow accrue the funds to purchase him outright from Spain, Mikel Arteta then will be left with a difficult decision to make.
Whether to play Emile Smith Rowe or Odegaard in the number 10 position. If Arteta goes ahead with the Madrid loanee, he might impede the development of the Englishman as an attacking midfielder because the 20-year-old will be naturally shifted to the left-wing.
Signing Buendia instead of Odegaard might solve this problem. The Argentine can play as a right-winger with equal effect. As a result, the Hale End graduate and Buendia can play alongside each other.
In others words, the Smith Rowe-Buendia partnership might be better suited to all parties than the Smith Rowe-Odegaard partnership.
The Norwich man likes to play in the “half-spaces” like Smith Rowe, when deployed as a winger. But he can also beat his man on the line to put in some delicious crosses.
That flexible approach might not come to fruition if Arsenal sign Odegaard.
With the signing of Buendia, Arsenal would also be able to cover any future injuries to Smith Rowe with a solid backup.
The Argentine’s numbers this season in the Championship have also been exceptional. He has recorded an astonishing 32 goal contributions in just 39 appearances.
It is worth pointing out that he has achieved those number when deployed as a right winger.
Arsenal signing the Championship player of this season won’t be a bad decision at all. In the end, it might be a better decision than signing the talented Martin Odegaard.
Keep Odegaard if he can cost about £25 million.
I think he needs another season in the EPL and he will come good. I have seen enough confidence in possession with him. We don’t have enough of this type.
Reminds me of the Cesc, Nasri, Rosicky, Diaby, Wilshere types of old. All they needed back then were proper tactics from the manager, DM, proper CB and a keeper to take make us challengers.
I say try to sign him if we can get him cheaper.
Thanks for this write up, but you have also forgotten that Saka plays better as a right winger and we also have Pepe too, we are short of numbers from the left Wing, let ESR learn and develop as a left sided midfielder, some of the best 10 all started from there eg Ozil, Carzola & Debrunye.
I prefer buendia to Odegard, he is more direct, scores more goals & assist while he is robust too.
I still don’t get d point of this article. is d writer suggesting no odegaard becos of Rowe’s playing time?
The writer gave 3 solid points. Read up again please
Keep an eye on this one, Benge is usually fairly reliable ;
“Though a formal bid has not been made for Buendia, a source close to the situation has indicated that that is expected to change in the coming days. Buendia would be extremely interested in moving to the Emirates Stadium & he would be prepared to push for that deal.”
ITK season is upon us .
How I’ve missed this ,can’t wait for all the players we aren’t going to be signing that are done deals .
Does he want to play RW though?
Exactly my question too.. what if Buendia wants to also play in Emile Smith’s preferred position too?
We need to be ruthless in our recruitment. Sign those that will make us better.
Both can play together. That’s the bonus. He has played as a right-winger for Norwich for the majority of matches.
Thus, I don’t think he will mind it
If we want to become great again we need great players. Emi Buendia is just that….. a quality player. He can be a new Pires. Different style but Buendia is that good. My problem with Arteta is he will not understand the magic and dance of football and I fear he will buy grey functional players without that magic. Without an eye for for those special players who will meld with our own special players, Saka, ESR, Martinelli, Balogun, we will not challenge at the top. Arteta could easily ruin Buendia, but if he relinquishes micro control management, and gives Buendia ‘space’ to perform, we would have a very important part of our Jigsaw. Maybe if we can get Yves Bissouma too. I don’t trust Arteta at all, deluded, but I do trust the young players we have and the players we could sign and they may carry Mr Control, Arteta to a good place.
Your major reason is that even if we have the chance to get Odegaard, we should prioritize ESR?
1. So what if Odegaard is better than ESR? We should loose out simply because we want to have the later play?
2. Dent in the transfer budget is okay if we’re fixing a problem with actual deficiency. I don’t think ESR is adequate at 10. He does have a sublime touch, but he’s an Ozil when he looses the ball. Take Bentekes goal against us. If ESR had actually put pressure on Zaha, Partey may not have had to plough through him.
3. We’re only supposed to have one player? No backups?
4. Wanting ESR to start because buendia plays on the right could stem the development of Saka on the right. Moving Saka left would mean steming the development of martinelli. Not to vector in Pepe and Aubameyang. Doesnt this perspective weaken your point?
Very good points Joe
To be honest, I am still not a big fan of Pepe.
Your case of Martinelli is good, but having 2 solid options in one position (Martinelli and Saka on the left) is only beneficial to the club and the manager.
Nicholas Pepe’s output has improved each season at Arsenal, despite limited starts.
40m for a player who has yet to be awarded his first full international Cap and who never pulled up trees during the season Norwich were relegated?Compare such a deal for a winger which we do not need,to Leicester City who are apparently on the verge of signing Soumare from Lille for 21m.Left footed central midfielder,6’2″ powerful and quick. Basically an upgrade on Xhaka.Now that is what I would call an excellent acquisition.
Leicester recruitment has been top notch in the last decade, very good team they have there, if arsenal recruitment is that good we would have had better players for every position
I am with you Grandad regarding Soumare. The punks running football operations are useless. A Partey-Soumare pivot would have been indeed something to behold. But we seem to be fixated on Bissouma who will be more expensive because of his EPL experience. I personally have no faith in Edu and Arteta. But this the hand Arsenal have been dealt (their own choice!), so we need to rely more on hope than expectation now.
AGREED GRANDAD. At approx £40 mill Buendia will be expensive and not value. He is nothing special, IMO.
We are almost guaranted not to spend that sort of sum on ANY midfielder or winger from any club world wide, so the subject of buying Buendia for any large sum is a red herring IMO.
I WOULD MUCH PREFER BISSOUMA, but also doubt he will arrive, for the very same financial reason.
To be more precise, the deal will likely be 40m including bonuses. But it’s not confirmed. It can even be between 30-35m. On the other hand, Leicester are buying a player who has one year left on his current deal. These types of players are hard to find. AND Soumare will definitely take a higher weekly wage and signing on fee than Buendia because of his contractual situation. Apart from that, Buendia is a more versatile player than Soumare. He can be deployed on both the wings, as well as a number 8 and 10.
Seriously on point.Arsenal must look at physical attributes e.g height,pace and power which seem to affect team performance
in contact sports like football.Arsenal players lack these grits ….how about dead balls defend and conversion;how about winning back balls
and precise penetration in the attack? Buy players that come with these qualities ,if we want to win troohy
We have lacked players, in general , with those physical qualities since around 2008 when WENGER BEGAN IMPORTING SKINNY, INJURY PRONE DWARFS AND CAST OUT TALL POWERFUL PLAYERS FOR WHATEVER MISTAKEN REASON.
The Invincibles were not only briliant and determined; they were physically tall and powerful, mostly.
Agree Grandad, I thought Soumare was on Arsenal’s radar for some time; however again I was wrong. Yves Bissouma (proven in the EPL) or an equivalent player is now essential as DM to partner Thomas Partey in midfield.
We need an established CAM, ESR can learn from the person, I see ESR as rosicky, Nasri type not like De brune or a proper 10
Good write-up.
Am I the only one not convinced by Odegaard? 1 goal and 1 assist in 13 EPL appearances doesn’t scream must sign. Ceballos did well last term and earned a recall but did not replicate that form, if anything he was clumsier – the 2nd red in the EPL semi at Villareal was the latest in a number of missteps costing points. Odegaard was largely anonymous in the second leg. He should come back on loan for another season and if he performs better, then we sign.
On the other hand, Emi is a proven creator. He has played well in the EPL with a struggling Norwich side and was head and shoulders above everybody in the championship – He would do for Arsenal what Grealish/Maddison do for Villa/Leicester – create chances. This is what we have struggled with since Ozil dipped considerably. We should be scoring 65+ goals a season, not mid-fifties. I appreciate personnel is a big part of this, but if the chances are created, we will score.
Odegaard will cost more as a punt, while Emi will have a point to prove as well as a decent resale value in both EPL and Championship. It is a no-brainer in my opinion.
buendia was in the top5 chances created in epl the last time out. So emi fo me
He would be good, speedy
but 40m is a lot
Odergaard for me has been underwhelming, he has a nice touch and links play ok but his workrate and tackling back are nowhere near good enough for the rigors of the prem. I expected more! I would not sign him, he hasn’t pulled any trees up.
EMI all day long considering his contributions for Norwich this season and even when they were relegated he created chances, 4th at the end of the season he was I believe behind KDB and so on….
Hes ready made to walk into this team as is Soumare who is a steal for £21m & could possibly win the league with Lille this weekend so fair play Leicester. If they also buy a too striker they have a super team for next season.
Arsenal take notes! That’s how it’s done… just won Cup and already looking, getting deals done for next season.
I see us being really disappointed this summer. Alot of players may not want to come to Arsenal which is a tough pill to swallow but it’s true that we cant really offer anything other than big wages.
We should get Marcus llorente, kessie, Nicolo Barella, strong, creative and fast players ,
The more box-to-box creative players we have the better for us.
If we must contend for the top, we must have a minimum of 2 creative players on the pitch and both the midfield and attacking should be goal scoring players,
We need to sell Aubameyang, one can’t be off for the whole season.
Buendia would cost a lot less than Odegaard (transfer fees and weekly wages included) and can reasonably be expected to score more goals and create more assists. A slam dunk, for me.
unless he is going to have a fenandes effect (yeah thats a thing now) buy him for 40m
But he already has every thing that can make him exel e.g if he can do it for a club like Norwitch city what about Arsenal who almost have every thing that is needed to exel. Just bring him since we need goal creator and at the same time some one who also score and this is what Buendia is doing right now.
ESR is robust, talented, quick, direct, links brilliantly, potentially becoming a great number 10. Arsenal remain his club, first and foremost.
Odegaard talented, links well, less direct, works hard, not that quick, nor that direct, good number 10; likely to be expensive. Real appear to remain his first choice while Arsenal do seem to figure high as his comfortable back up choice.
Do The AFC really want to be regarded as a comfortable “back-up” for any ex Real player? Shades of Ozil?
Buendia mature, yet young at 24, a likely excellent fit, and should desire the challenge of a rapidly improving Arsenal, above an up and down Norwich.
If Arsenal are seriously in the market, Buendia seems a very worthy target. The key should always be:- Desire, Pace, Goals, Assists, Work-rate, Link-up —- in whatever order.
Car collections and crazy wages are less important, often falling short when chasing titles, cups, and the respect of fans.
I have an even better solution. If we have $40m to spend, lets buy Bissouma from Brighton, and forget about Odegaard. We know he can play well in the EPL, just ask Man City.
Bissouma can play alongside Partey and create a strong defensive pairing in front of the back four. Then we can see what ESR can do as a creative player up front.
If we think Martinelli can cut it as a goal scorer, then we only need a full back (and perhaps Oblak in goal?)
👍 DM to play along side Thomas Partey should be #1 priority.
All I know is get grealish, buendia and Pedro goncalves of sporting then Bissouma and a 2 who can operate elk and get much assist for us then am sure we’ll get the league next season…please guys check out for pedro Goncalves he would be our Fernandez of Man U
Martin Odegaard, has had some impressive performances for Arsenal; however his season was impacted by injury. He is definitely a player of promise, captaining Norway at 22 yo; but being contracted to Real Madrid the cost to prise him away may be over the odds, compared to other players on the market. Should Zidane remain or another manager come in, who doesn’t fancy him, Real Madrid may need to sell Odegaard at a sale price to fund other players.