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Fabrizio Romano posts quotes confirming 22-year-old star has agreed to join Arsenal

By on January 22, 2021

Fabrizio Romano has quoted Real Sociedad boss Imanol Alguacil as confirming that Martin Odegaard has snubbed them in favour of a move to Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta is wanting to add another creative midfielder to our squad before the window closes and Odegaard emerged as his prime target when widespread reports earlier this week suggested Arsenal had made an approach to Madrid.

At the time, Sociedad were believed to be in pole position to re-sign Odegaard as the midfielder enjoyed a year on loan at the club last season when he scored 7 goals and supplied a further 9 assists in his 36 games.

However, Arsenal have managed to turn the players head and reports coming out of Spain today claim that Odegaard has agreed to join us on loan from Madrid for the rest of the season.

Romano tweeted this morning to say that the 22-year-old opted for a move to the Emirates Stadium after holding talks with Arteta and the two clubs are now finalising terms over a short term loan deal.

The respected Italian journalist then posted quotes attributed to Real Sociedad manager Imanol Alguacil that claimed Odegaard was ‘really close’ to re-joining the club before Arteta called the player to convince him to join Arsenal instead.

Several British media outlets are also reporting that Odegaard is close to sealing his move to Arsenal with Football London claiming that Dani Ceballos has played a key role in persuading the player to join him in north London.

That report says Edu negotiated the deal with Madrid and held direct talks with Odegaard’s father Hans and agent Bjorn Tore Kvarme, but sadly Football London also claims that we don’t have any option to make the loan permanent in the summer.

Let’s see how things develop over the coming hours but it looks as though we’re about to secure our second signing of the January window after goalkeeper Mat Ryan joined the club on loan from Brighton today.

I think Odegaard will be a terrific addition to the squad and he’ll provide competition and support for Emile Smith Rowe in the attacking midfield role. The Norwegian international has been one of the most creative players in Spain over the past 18 months so he should help solve that particular issue at Arsenal.

My only concern is the lack of buy option in the deal. It would have made a lot more sense if Arsenal had the opportunity to buy Odegaard if things worked out well for all parties, but I guess Madrid are still reluctant to lose him permanently.

So we could have two players through the door soon. The final piece of January business could see a left-back arrive and reports suggest we’re targeting Ryan Bertrand from Southampton.