Arsenal: Edu struck gold on Martin Odegaard | OneFootball

Having enjoyed a decent five-month loan spell at Arsenal in the back end of last season, Mikel Arteta and Edu clearly felt that they had seen enough of Martin Odegaard to splash some considerable cash on the 23-year-old’s permanent signing, with the Gunners parting with an initial £30m – plus £4m in bonuses – for the Real Madrid attacking midfielder last summer.

It is not difficult to understand why the Arsenal hierarchy felt the Norway international would be worth this outlay, as, over his 14 Premier League appearances last term, the youngster was in very respectable form, scoring one goal, providing two assists and creating one big chance for his teammates, as well as making an average of 1.4 key passes and taking 1.1 shots per game.

1 of 12

Starting off with an easy one...

Junichi Inamoto Park Chu-Young Ryo Miyaichi Amaury Bischoff

These returns saw the former Stromsgodset IF starlet average a SofaScore match rating of 6.89, ranking him as Arteta’s joint 11th-best performer in the top flight of English football last term.

As such, with £30m not exactly being ridiculous money in today’s market – Odegaard’s signing ranks him as the 113th-most expensive in Premier League history – the outlay appeared to be a fair reflection of the 23-year-old’s contributions in the previous campaign.

However, since putting pen to paper on a permanent deal at the Emirates, the Norwegian playmaker has taken his game to the next level, with Odegaard having been one of Arsenal’s most influential players in 2021/22.

Indeed, over his 23 Premier League outings so far this season, the £79k-per-week sensation has been in breathtaking form, bagging five goals, registering three assists and creating five big chances for his teammates, in addition to making an average of 1.9 key passes and taking 1.2 shots per game.

Would you sell Odegaard for £60m this summer?

Yes

Vote

No

Vote

These metrics have seen the player who Next Generation Arsenal dubbed “incredible” and Yannick Bolasie labelled a “baller” average an extremely impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.06, ranking him as the Gunners’ joint third-best player in the league – behind only Aaron Ramsdale and Emile Smith Rowe.

As such, considering the fact that CIES now value Odegaard at a whopping £59m – almost double what Arsenal paid for him just seven months ago, it is clear to see that Edu really did strike gold on the Norwegian wizard.