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Agent in London to finalise deal as Arsenal close-in on 4th summer signing

By on August 17, 2021

According to the Mirror, Martin Odegaard’s agent is in London to finalise a deal with Arsenal that would see the Real Madrid playmaker join on an initial season long loan with the club having first refusal to make it permanent for £30m next summer.

It’s no secret that Mikel Arteta needs to add more creativity to the squad after Odegaard went back to Madrid following a successful loan spell that saw him impress during the second half of last season.

Arsenal have always been keen to re-sign the Norwegian international and it initially looked as though Odegaard was set to stay in Madrid to try and establish himself under new boss Carlo Ancelotti.

However, the 22-year-old failed to do enough in pre-season to convince the Italian that he should be a part of his plans and it looks as though Odegaard is now behind Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Casemiro, Isco and Valverde in the pecking order.

The playmaker hasn’t been registered with Madrid for the new campaign yet and hasn’t been given a shirt number having been left out of the squad for their first game against Alaves at the weekend, so everything points to him leaving the club this summer.

Odegaard set for Arsenal return

Despite the likes of James Maddison and Houssem Aouar being linked, the Mirror says Odegaard is Arsenal’s top target and the players representatives are now in London to finalise a move back to the Emirates.

The newspaper says Odegaard is set to join the club on a season long loan with Arsenal having first refusal to make the move permanent for £30m next summer should things work out as hoped.

If true, this would be a decent deal for us as it allows Odegaard to play regular first team football at Arsenal for this season and earn a permanent move. We can then sign him for £30m [which is a reasonable fee] if it all works out, and if not then we just don’t exercise our option to sign him permanently.

I’m a big fan of Odegaard so I’d love to see this proposed deal go through but I hope he isn’t the only new arrival before the window closes. We need another goalkeeper, a new right-back if Hector Bellerin goes and ideally a new striker if we can find a buyer for Alexandre Lacazette.

Arsenal have signed three players and Odegaard would be No.4, but there is still lot’s of work to be done….

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