It was very obvious last summer that Mikel Arteta and Edu were searching desperately for a top class midfielder to help complete the jigsaw. We saw Albert Lokonga come in early, but it was presumed that he was “one for the future” as we needed the ‘beast of a DM’ that Arsenal fans have been craving for many years.
There were rumours about Emi Buendia, Aouar and James Maddison over the summer, especially after we heard that Martin Odegaard intended to stay in Madrid, but it seems Arteta never gave up on the Norwegian, despite most Arsenal fans bemoaning he was too lightweight for the Premier League.
As we all know, Arteta finally got his man from Madrid and I have to admit that most Gooners on JustArsenal were less than impressed, although Odegaard has started to prove them wrong over the last couple of months.
The Arsenal legend Ray Parlour even goes so far as to say that even Mikel Arteta would rather have got Maddison, but didn’t think the price quoted by Leicester was a fair valuation. Parlour told HITC when asked about Odegaard’s improvement: “He has done really well,”
“He is the sort of player that works hard off the ball, which you need as much as being the creative player.
“Odegaard has been excellent. When he was on loan, he probably showed enough for the manager to say ‘let’s get him on a permanent basis’.
“I think, if I am honest, Maddison would have been higher up to buy than Odegaard, at the time. But Leicester might have been asking for too much money.
“Probably, at the time, they couldn’t throw £70 million at a player, so they have gone with Odegaard and it has been a good decision because he has played well in the past few weeks.”
So, if you were being honest, do you think you would have preferred Arsenal to have splashed the cash on Maddison in the summer? Or do you think Odegaard has proved the better buy in the end?
THE JUST ARSENAL SHOW – Dan Smith has a rant over Arteta and ‘Players Welfare”