It says plenty about the anticlimactic January transfer window that Arsenal are being acclaimed as one of its “winners” after signing only one player on loan.
Martin Odegaard was the only significant addition to Mikel Arteta‘s squad, signing on a short-term deal until the end of the campaign from Real Madrid after struggling to get much of a look-in under Zinedine Zidane.
Although the emergence of Emile Smith Rowe and sustained excellence of Bukayo Saka have helped alleviate some of the creativity issues that dogged Arsenal during their miserable run in the autumn, Odegaard gives another Arteta a very useful option in the final third.
Odegaard’s Premier League career spans only seven minutes against Manchester United thus far – enough to see him named man of the match by viewers of Norway’s leading sports channel TV 2 – but already Arteta is making noises about keeping him beyond the end of the current campaign.
“He certainly has all the qualities and characteristics that we are looking for for that position,” Arteta said last week. “He’s a player that we followed for some time and we believe that he’s got some special qualities that we need, that we have been missing.”
Somehow still only 22, Odegaard’s career has seen him shuttle around from his native Norway to the Iberian peninsula up to the north and then east of the Netherlands, back across to the Basque Country and Madrid once more and now onto north London. Perhaps the latest base on his whistle-stop tour around Europe can be where he finally settles down.
A lack of football at the Bernabeu isn’t much of an indicator of Odegaard’s ability considering Real’s talent exodus over the past 18 months. Sergio Reguilon, Achraf Hakimi, Marcos Llorente and Theo Hernandez have all flourished elsewhere after being deemed expendable by Zidane and his president Florentino Perez.
Instead, Arsenal fans should be encouraged by Odegaard’s performances in his previous two loan spells away from Bernabeu. Real Sociedad only turned to David Silva in August once it became apparent that Real wouldn’t sell Odegaard, while Ajax were so impressed by his form at Vitesse Arnhem that they tried to add him to a squad that had just reached the Champions League semi finals in 2019.
Martin Odegaard’s league stats since 2018-19:
2020-21 (Real Madrid): Seven appearances, no goals, no assists
2019-20 (Real Sociedad): 31 appearances, four goals, six assists
2018-19 (Vitesse Arnhem): 35 appearances, nine goals, 12 assists
As exciting as Odegaard’s arrival is, though, it is the exodus of unwanted, high earners that has seen director of football Edu lauded as a transfer guru by Arsenal supporters.
The Ozil-shaped cloud that has hovered gloomily over the Emirates for the best part of two years has finally floated away with the playmaker signing for boyhood club Fenerbahce.
From Ozil’s final appearance for Arsenal – in a 1-0 win over West Ham – to the date he officially said his goodbyes, there was a gap of more than 300 days. In total, he missed Arsenal’s last 44 matches in all competitions. Saving Gunnersaurus’ job was his last meaningful contribution. The world’s best-paid social media manager is no longer Arsenal’s problem.
Also following Ozil out of the exit door are his sidekicks Sead Kolasinac and Shkodran Mustafi, both of whom have joined Schalke 04 and Sokratis Papastathopolous who has returned to his native Greece after 13 years away. Between them, Ozil, Kolasinac, Mustafi and Sokratis played a combined 135 minutes in the Premier League this season.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Joe Willock have been moved out on loan, joining West Brom and Newcastle respectively where they will expect to play more frequently and in their favoured central midfield roles.
From a financial standpoint, the deals that have seen Ozil, Kolasinac, Mustafi and Sokratis move on can be seen in both positive and negative lights: positive in the sense that four non-playing, high earners are no longer on the wage bill, negative in that they cost the club a combined £95m in transfer fees and have left for nothing.
That Arsenal were willing to cancel their contracts shows that they are intent on rebuilding a squad that stagnated badly under Arsene Wenger and Unai Emery. Getting rid of Ozil will save the club £18m a year, money that can be reinvested into the squad in the summer.
Over the past decade, Arsenal’s numerous failings in the transfer market have led to the club slipping down the Premier League table and tumbling out of the Champions League. Finally, the building blocks are being put in place to restore the club to its former prominence.
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