@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

No buy back either

That was key to this being a good deal.

Not sure I believe in xT. On the one hand ESR was 3rd in the league for xT this week but Xhaka was also in the top 20.

We upgraded willock for 5-8 million. Worth it. Now sign a midfielder from Lyon and a rb. It'll make up for the ramsdale signing

Plus a striker would be nice if we sell one of the two "stars" we have

12 days to:

  • Find buyers for Laca and Auba (and replace them with one gun)
  • Relegate Xhaka to a back-up option
  • Sign a RB
  • Clear high value surplus to requirement assets (Chambers/Holding, Nketiah, AMN, Nelson)

Apart from the first item on the list (which is harder to do), the others should all have been done a month ago and if we were a competent club this would have been done ages ago.

Xhaka is already a backup option to me. Once Partey is back it's him + Lokonga.
Bellerin being such a wantaway has pushed the RB position to where it is.

Rumours are Odegaard at 35 mil is after add-ons and the deal is actually around 30 mil. That's the right value.

pretty much spot on in terms of price. really happy with this deal

now if we had a clue, we'd drop the ramsdale nonsense and focus on outgoings to clear space for a striker or midfielder madness

20m would have been a good price

I suppose he can fill the elneny role in the squad

35m euros is a great deal. Fantastic buy, I really rate him. I guess he's not everyone's cup of tea but I always loved players with indirect multiplier effect

Quincy Abeyie wrote:
goon wrote:

I don’t know what xT is but I like the players he’s surrounded by:

Here is an explanation that was so long I didn't bother reading it: https://karun.in/blog/expected-threat.html

I skim read the Athletic article the chart was based on after posting. I think the jist of it is the areas of the pitch you have an influence on (I'm guessing with your passes, touches and shots but I didn't get that far), the closer you are to the opposition goal mouth the higher the score. 

I would be delighted with this signing, especially with that price. Really think he can be one of the best. Now to sign a new manager and board.

Confirmed by Madrid tier 1 sources, all but done deal. 40m euros inclusive of future add-ons, and Madrid will have a first refusal on any future sale.

£30m according to Arsenal sources, €40m according to Real sources. 😆

€40m would be on the pricey side of things for him, hopefully thats only if all the bonuses etc are reached.

€40m = £34m, so it's not much of a difference anyway.

£30-35 million is a really good fee for a player with Ødegaard's talent and character. Very happy about this.

I do think we need Maddison's attacking qualities more, but I envision Ødegaard playing deeper in the field in the future, like Modric or late-career Cazorla, where his slowness is less important and his intelligence gets multiplied. We need a manager who can mold him into that type of player though.

Qwiss! wrote:

£30m according to Arsenal sources, €40m according to Real sources. 😆

€40m would be on the pricey side of things for him, hopefully thats only if all the bonuses etc are reached.

35m sterling including including all the add-ons. pretty much spot on in my view. arteta probably won't get the best out of him because of his fullback heavy philosophy, but I think any coach worth their salt would find odegaard to be an asset

the only downside is we haven't sorted out the midfield platform yet. theres an athleticism problem having odegaard and xhaka in the same midfield, same as there would've been if we'd gotten maddison. 

It's a good fee for him. He's a dying breed, very happy we have signed him. He will make the team better. I just hope we spend the spare cash well.

there seems to be some sort of countering of a socmed backlash on this signing. But I haven't actually seen much backlash and am just wondering where all this is coming from.

it's coming from the reply guys who got ramped up on bells maddison rumours

banduan wrote:

there seems to be some sort of countering of a socmed backlash on this signing. But I haven't actually seen much backlash and am just wondering where all this is coming from.

Arsenal-Twitter has been hating on this potential for a long time. Under every rumours of Ødegaard there's a ton of "If we sign this guy instead of Maddison Im done with the club" etc.

Woohoo well done Arsenal on moving in very quickly once it was clear Ancelotti wasn't going to really give him a go over the established stars.

Good stuff, most expected he was out of reach at the start of the summer.

Now let's hope Edu/Arteta pull a RB and ST out of the bag. The cunts have 12 days to do it.

Very happy with this signing. Love his ability to open up defences with through balls. He also already knows the club, his teammates and the league. Just a shame we have a manager who is incapable of coaching any kind of attacking style into our team.

we endlessly crapped on edu and arteta for their moves on this window, but it seems clear they wanted MO ever since the loan deal and were willing to play to play the long game, and have ended up getting him for a decent fee. it's probably the 1st thing they've done this window that I can give them credit for

Gazza M wrote:

we endlessly crapped on edu and arteta for their moves on this window, but it seems clear they wanted MO ever since the loan deal and were willing to play to play the long game, and have ended up getting him for a decent fee. it's probably the 1st thing they've done this window that I can give them credit for

Not everyone crapped on them! I still expect them to carry out more business and the signings of White and Lokonga are top notch whilst Tavares filled a need!

Yup, Dules, we have added a lot of quality to the squad, for sure.

Hope and expect to see more performances like this from our new Norweigan. Especially intrigued by the prospect of him playing with Smith Rowe and Partey in an attack-minded midfield.


Respect to the first guy who broke the Odegaard news in July when all the other journos was big on Maddison.

His Arsenal compilations doing the rounds are great Ricky. It wasn't just one game, he had great moments in a number of matches. That after coming into a demanding League mid season having barely played for his parent club, and only at 22. He has the potential to be great in my opinion. There's a maturity and intelligence about his play which in today's physical athletic game is under appreciated. We have missed the collective cerebral aspect for a while. Him Saka and ESR take it up a level.

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:
Gazza M wrote:

we endlessly crapped on edu and arteta for their moves on this window, but it seems clear they wanted MO ever since the loan deal and were willing to play to play the long game, and have ended up getting him for a decent fee. it's probably the 1st thing they've done this window that I can give them credit for

Not everyone crapped on them!  I still expect them to carry out more business and the signings of White and Lokonga are top notch whilst Tavares filled a need!

it's a poor window so far considering what's been spent and the gaps that are in the squad. not relitigating why white was a daft use of money, and lokonga wasn't exactly a cheap punt at 20m though I like the snippets I've seen thus far. still time left to make it a passable window, but we've made some moves like the xhaka renewal that will cast an overall pall to the proceedings. laca and bellerin out and a new striker and right back would represent pulling this out of the fire. and no 25m on ramsdale ffs

Good signing for a decent price in this climate. Hopefully he can live up to his potential with us.

I'm not sure what the plan is though(if there even is one, with Arteta it's not a given). How can we fit him, ESR, Saka and Pepe into the line-up? Loaded(player-wise) in attacking-mid/winger position while having gaping holes(useful players) in midfield and striking departments? I guess we could try and play him deeper, he works pretty hard, although it's concerning he's so lightweight and weak.

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Feels much better having him outright rather than on loan

absolutely!

Clrnc wrote:

Respect to the first guy who broke the Odegaard news in July when all the other journos was big on Maddison.

To be fair Romano has always maintained he's our first choice target too even when it seemed like it wasn't going to happen. 

Good signing, good price, he's going to be great for us. Now let's bring in a few more signings

est wrote:

How can we fit him, ESR, Saka and Pepe into the line-up? 

we don't, we leave one on the bench which is perfectly fine. All but one are 22 yrs or less.

Maybe we get to try the overly optimistic 4-3-3 with Øde, ESR and Partey in the middle and Pepe and Saka on the wings some time.

-ESR-Ode-Saka-

The above should be the play, that would need a killer at 9 though.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

Maybe we get to try the overly optimistic 4-3-3 with Øde, ESR and Partey in the middle and Pepe and Saka on the wings some time.

Basically the Villarreal 2nd leg line up.