OFFICIAL: Odegaard goes to Arsenal on loan
Real Madrid's Martin Odegaard has joined Arsenal on loan for the rest of the season, the clubs have confirmed.
Martin Odegaard's move on loan to Arsenal has been confirmed by the English club. The Norwegian will be at the North Londoners for the rest of the campaign and will be given the number 11 shirt.
The 22 year-old shone on loan at Real Sociedad during the 2019/20 campaign helping them make the Copa del Rey final and qualify for this season's Europa League. He scored seven goals and nine assists in 36 appearances for the club from San Sebastian.
However, since being recalled by Real Madrid in the summer, he has struggled for game time under Zidane. In fact, he has played just 386 minutes across nine fixtures, only five of them starts. That led the player to ask 'Los Blancos' to sell him and the Gunners have taken the opportunity to get him on a loan deal.
Mikel Arteta was delighted at the news: "It’s great that we’ve secured Martin to come to us until the end of the season. Martin is of course a player that we all know very well and although still young, he has been playing at the top level for a while. Martin will provide us with quality offensive options and we’re all excited to be integrating him into our plans between now and May.”
Meanwhile, technical director Edu also had praise for Odegaard: "We are delighted to welcome Martin to the club until the end of the season. Martin is an exceptional talent and we are strengthening our squad by introducing an exciting offensive player to the club for the remaining months of this season.” He also wanted to thank the player and his parent club Real Madrid for making the move happen.
No official figures on the cost of the deal have been released, but it is reported to be around 2.5 million pounds.
Arsenal are currently 8th in the league and their next game is at home to Man Utd on Saturday at 18:30 CET.