Martin Odegaard was the star of the show for Arsenal as the Gunners came from 3-0 down to pick up a point vs West Ham United in the Premier League this weekend. And the Arsenal boss has been urged to sign the loanee on a permanent basis.
Odegaard is currently on loan from Real Madrid for a six-month period meaning he is set to return to the Bernabeu at the end of this season. But his superb display against West Ham United seems to have won over Ian Wright and the pundit feels Mikel Arteta should set the ball rolling to make the deal permanent in the summer.
“In the first 35 minutes, Arsenal were nowhere near it and it was testament to West Ham that they did punish them,” Wright told Premier League Productions, as quoted.
“But in the end, the character that they [Arsenal] showed was magnificent, Chambers, Martin Odegaard is somebody that they need to make sure they make that signing if they can. Because he really did come to the fore today.
“What you want to see from him [Odegaard] is a player that has got unbelievable potential and ability and you want to see him in a game like that where he’s going to be in the meat and bones of the game where he’s got to pick the ball up and does what he does.
Martin Ødegaard’s game by numbers vs. West Ham:
93% pass accuracy
95 touches
16 penalty area entries (most)
9 crosses (most)
6 duels won
5 touches in opp. box
4 take-ons (most)
4 chances created (most)
3 shots
2 fouls won
1 shot on targetImpressed. pic.twitter.com/eWauBgqErC
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) March 21, 2021
“He wants the ball and plays it, he’s very efficient with it. He done it in a game where Arsenal needed it. Like we saw on so many occasions he chose the right pass, fantastic today. He was magnificent.”
Martin Odegaard was truly superb for the Gunners on Sunday but the last thing Arteta would want is to jump to conclusions.
Dani Ceballos is another player who is on loan at Arsenal from Real Madrid and he too made a pretty bright start to his career in England. But once the honeymoon period was over, Ceballos quickly fell down the pecking order and right now, he’s only making substitute appearances for the North London club.
Odegaard has shown real promise up until now, but Arsenal still have a lot of games to play this season and the 22-year-old will have to maintain this same level of intensity for Mikel Arteta to be convinced to make a permanent offer to the Los Blancos.
