Odegaard and Aouar would be great, and would probably indicate that we're switching to a 4-3-3. Personally don't think it's likely we'll get both though, all signs point to us wanting to sign a forward.

Gunner89 wrote:

Lucas Navarrete
@LucasNavarreteM
My personal take about Odegaard's departure is that he didn't show the grit to fight and earn his minutes for RM. He felt he already earned them during his loan deals.

I also believe he was never the same player after his knee injury with Real Sociedad.

Good transfer for RM.

---

Disclaimer: This is a take from a Madrid journo though

Always two sides, used selectively when convenient. A young player wants to leave a big club for playing time and his detractors say he doesn't have fight. If he spends most of his time on the bench some say he is comfortable collecting his pay check. 

That he is pushing for a move from Real, La Liga and CL contenders to Arsenal in our current state is worth applauding. Real can be toxic. He can fight all he wants, but there is player power and those on the helm have their favourites too. Good on him. Come here and take yourself and us up a level.

Pep's 433 at City has been beautiful to watch so hopefully the dumb Pep tries something similar here.

goon wrote:

I have plenty of doubts about Odegaard but he's a quality player, good value and the right profile. Bring him home.

I have my doubts as well, but I'm just happy Arteta is going for it. I'll be even more excited if Arteta really is trying to sell the likes of Laca and Auba too. If you're going to fail, at least fail having given it a proper go.

My problem with Odegaard is we don't need a starting 10 when we have ESR. Getting someone like Maddison who is at least further along in his development makes some sense. Getting another 10 who's older, still waiting to realise his potential and not as good as ESR doesn't make much sense to me.

we've seen Martin play well with Emile plenty enough times.

£34m is a good price

Gazza M wrote:

my feeling is ESR simply isn't ready to be the main creative fulcrum, and needs another technical foil to bounce off of, and also take the weight off his shoulders. feels like he's playing one touch football with himself at times. having another player with a world class touch and vision is much needed in our side

Saka and ESR are the technical ones IMO. Pepe/Martinelli and the strikers as the danger men. When Odegaard comes in with Saka and ESR we look less dangerous, the balance is off and we don't have anyone for them to play into. He also further exacerbates the general problems with Arteta-ball in terms of slow build up and the horseshoe of misery. Thats why I'd favour more direct AMs like ESR and Maddison over him, they work to counter the problems of Artetas style of play.

Odegaard is a good player, he's certainly not below our standard but this just adds to a summer of not getting the players we need to change things. Odegaard, White, Lokonga and Tavares are all ok signings on their own but together its nowhere near enough to make the improvements we need.

Odegaard is a top class player and a great character. Much better than the others we've been linked with.

Odegaard has the potential to be a top class player. If we are lucky he'll develop past the likes of Maddison, right now he's not as good.

Clrnc wrote:

Happy with this. Rumour is that we will buy both him and Aouar as we have sold Willock. That might prove to be much smarter than buying Maddison alone.

Like many others said he is a multiplier. The end product will come. Judging him based on 4 months with us thats interrupted by injuries is foolish

Agree with this. If we get him for 40-50 million euros too and another CM then it's absolutely better value than spending it all on Madison. I rate Madison higher than both too but these guys are both 22-23 and have lots to play for

We definitely needed another body in the frontline. Someone technically top level too in my opinion. The flakiness of youth, injuries, they can all derail a season. Odegaard, ESR, Saka, Pepe and Martinelli are great options. They all seem to have a high ceiling in different facets of the game. I also think they compliment each other's football. If they can grow, develop and get close to that ceiling together, we can have something special.

Great. I've always liked him as a player. Makes intelligent decisions on the ball, close control better than pretty much anyone else, and works really hard. He's a terrific player to have in a team that wants to control possession.

Gazza M wrote:

hopefully closer to 40m than 50m

LOL! you would be worse than Wenger mate.

I think four players of similar quality for the trio behind the striker is good. I can understand that those who view Martinelli as one of those think we don’t need Ødegaard, although I personally don’t want to put Saka in the middle.

I can appreciate the reservations some people have here. But I also agree that you're buying into the potential here; technically, this guy is top notch.

Bottom line is for where we are and our short-term ambitions, I think he's good enough. And if he isn't good enough for our long-term ambitions, we should hopefully still be able to turn a profit on him (assuming we achieve our short-term ambitions!).

I'd be delighted if we can get him; much more comfortable with talk of getting him than someone like Maddison at 60-70m. He's the right age and price point of players we need to be looking at if we're to rebuild the club. Would be exciting to see him develop alongside the likes of Saka and ESR. He'll frustrate at times and may not offer the same immediate impact as others might (though I think he's shown that he's ready to contribute a good amount anyway), but over time he could become very special. Worth investing in these sort of players.

Probably saw our match today and thought "well fuck that"

We need all 3 of the alternatives really. Odegaard, Madders and Aouar

hopefully they all say "well fuck that" because i'm tired of these overpriced bums.

I wouldn't say I'm elated by this signing because a 3 of him, Saka and ESR behind a CF would lack serious goal threat. Still, on his own he's about as good as we're going to do atm. Plenty of talent and potential there.

He's a good player, big potential but that doesn't make him the right player for us now.we have young players with big potential in our attacking midfield line, in fact we are stacked with them.

Odegaards more talented than Tammy Abraham and probably will be a better player but I'd take the Chelsea reject over him because he's more of what we need. Sometimes need trumps quality.

I was surprised that we never tried him in a deeper role when he was last here. Don't see it at all in the '10' position.

Qwiss! wrote:

He's a good player, big potential but that doesn't make him the right player for us now. we have young players with big potential in our attacking midfield line, in fact we are stacked with them.

Odegaards more talented than Tammy Abraham and probably will be a better player but I'd take the Chelsea reject over him because he's more of what we need. Sometimes need trumps quality.

Definitely. 

Would limit Arteta to two signings - a GK as definite and one outfield player which should be a striker. Don't want him wasting all our transfer funds.

I actually think we could wait a season before going back for Odegaard if he is still a desirable option.

I think we should have bought Guimaraes.

We need another midfielder.

Lokonga was our best midfielder yesterday which says a lot.

Captain wrote:

I was surprised that we never tried him in a deeper role when he was last here. Don't see it at all in the '10' position.

whenever he played alongside ESR they both played as the hybrid 8 - 10 role.

His compilations from his time here show there is enough to be very encouraged.

Thats a strange one, unless they're actually doing us a solid, allowing us to divert upfront funds towards other areas of need for this window. He needs to be our player through and through for me.

If its a loan with an obligation, like the Guendouzi deal thats fine because he's basically our player anyway. For £30m it'd be a good deal too. I'm more hopeful about Odegaard if a new manager comes in, under Arteta he just contributes to the same problems as usual but thats not Odegaards fault.

Woah, that would be a fantastic deal.

Leaves wiggle room to bring in another midfielder.

That would be an amazing deal and also will be signs that we want to splash elsewhere

Gazza M wrote:

This would be a great deal, even if it's an obligation at 30m next season

Isn't a first refusal a clause that says Real Madrid have to offer him to us for £30m in the event they decide to sell next summer? I don't see the obligation.

Regardless of the details, I'm warming a lot to this idea. He's techncially and tactically a dream footballer, the only thing that has me concerned is exactly how we'll line up. I'd really like to see Arteta go for it and play Smith Rowe and Ødegaard ahead of Partey, with 3 attackers ahead of them. It's way more likely Smith Rowe goes out to the left and Ødegaard plays as the 10. I'd really like to see us move away from that set-up. It might be more open defensively, but bloody go for it. It gets another goalscorer in the front 3 then, and two decent goal threats in midfield. Xhaka can be back up to Partey or play when we're maybe outgunned and an extra holding midfielder is called for.

If it's only first refusal should they decide to sell him then it's not a good deal. Modric is still going strong but is 50 years old. If Ødegaard plays well this season they will simply decide not to sell him.

Ricky1985 wrote:

Gazza M wrote:

This would be a great deal, even if it's an obligation at 30m next season

Isn't a first refusal a clause that says Real Madrid have to offer him to us for £30m in the event they decide to sell next summer? I don't see the obligation.

Regardless of the details, I'm warming a lot to this idea. He's techncially and tactically a dream footballer, the only thing that has me concerned is exactly how we'll line up. I'd really like to see Arteta go for it and play Smith Rowe and Ødegaard ahead of Partey, with 3 attackers ahead of them. It's way more likely Smith Rowe goes out to the left and Ødegaard plays as the 10. I'd really like to see us move away from that set-up. It might be more open defensively, but bloody go for it. It gets another goalscorer in the front 3 then, and two decent goal threats in midfield.  Xhaka can be back up to Partey or play when we're maybe outgunned and an extra holding midfielder is called for.

Fully agreed

Saka       Smith-Rowe         Pepe

                        Odegaard 
             Partey

Would be ideal.

Hopefully it frees up money to go for another midfielder like Guimaraes/Tchouameni.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

If it's only first refusal should they decide to sell him then it's not a good deal. Modric is still going strong but is 50 years old. If Ødegaard plays well this season they will simply decide not to sell him.

Agree there. We shouldn't be willing to end up in the same situation next summer.