Monday’s edition of Mundo Deportivo has an article titled ‘Odegaard Day’ and it’s expected Arsenal will announce the signing of the Real Madrid player today.
On loan at Real Sociedad last season, Martin Odegaard impressed for the Basque club, so there was annoyance when Madrid chose to end the two year spell early. La Real were interested in taking him back during the current window, but they wanted a purchase clause so they didn’t again face the prospect of getting the player into top form only for Madrid to come and take him back.
Real Madrid weren’t prepared to entertain such a clause and that’s partly why Odegaard is set to sign for Arsenal, who the Spanish media explain were happy to just take the Norwegian on a dry loan.
Only a ‘last minute surprise’ will stop the deal being announced on Monday, and there’s some annoyance in Madrid over Zinedine Zidane’s reluctance to use the player. Should the Frenchman continue to be in charge at Los Blancos then it’ll be interesting to see what happens in the summer, with Odegaard unlikely to be keen to spend months on the bench again.
That could work out well for Arsenal, and maybe a summer permanent transfer could be built with a buyback clause, similar to how Tottenham secured Sergio Reguilon from Real Madrid.
