He finished the Premier League and Arsenal did it by beating Brighton 2-0 with a double from Pépé that, however, does not serve him much: he is eighth and therefore will not play European competition next season, Tottenham's triumph against Leicester deprived him of the consolation of, at least, being able to play the new Conference League. The end of the course also marks the end of the current loan of Odegaard with the 'gunner' team; the Norwegian, who left for London in January, will return to the discipline of Real Madrid with his future in the air.
Although if it were up to Mikel Arteta, Arsenal manager, Odegaard would surely remain at Arsenal. After the win against Brighton, the coach sent his message: “We have a very clear and determined opinion on what we would like to do. But he is not our player. I do not know what can happen, it is not in our hands, in the next few days there will be negotiations. We have done everything possible to make him feel comfortable in the team and be able to play for him, I hope we have conveyed to him that this is a good place to play.Arteta anticipated, de facto, that Arsenal will fight for the continuity of Odegaard, either in loan or transfer format.
Some statements very much in line with those made by Odegaard himself recently: “I don't know what will happen. I'm a Madrid player, so we'll have to talk to them. It is important to know what they want ”. The Norwegian's return to Real Madrid last summer was not as he had expected: Madrid convinced him not to continue another season at Real Sociedad, Zidane promised him that it would be important, but at the moment of truth the injuries, the COVID and the manager's lack of confidence led him to play less than 400 minutes between September and December. In January, when the transfer market opened, he asked for the loan to Arsenal, where he has played a good number of minutes (almost 1,700), scoring two goals and giving two assists.
They are so satisfied at Arsenal that it is their intention to offer Real Madrid a good amount to see if the whites open up to negotiate and transfer the Norwegian this summer. So much so that English media have already reported that the 'gunner' team wants to make a box with several operations beforehand to arrive with ammunition for that battle, starting with asking Newcastle 20 million for the transfer of Willock. In Madrid, the figure of Odegaard generates debate. On the one hand, there are those in the board who see the Norwegian as one of the main assets to make money this summer. However, there are those who defend that it should be one of the loaners that is part of the next project for quality and savings. The pandemic has made a hole in the accounts and having the option of having such a quality footballer to reinforce the midfield, there are those who do not understand that it is considered to give way out.
Summer can take many turns and the opinion of the footballer has a specific weight, but many in the club consider that what happened to Odegaard in the first round of this season that is now ending was a chain of misfortunes that prevented him from playing regularly. But in the campaign that comes his defenders trust that he will enjoy much more prominence. In addition, it has been seen that it is not possible to go to a short season of troops as Madrid has done this course, especially with so many injuries and infections by COVID-19.
Valverde and Odegaard are the future
Casemiro, Kroos and Modric (who will continue one more season) are still in force, but In the white board, they want the 2021-22 season to be the final step for Odegaard and Valverde to begin to gradually take over from the starting eleven.. In this, of course, Zidane will also play a role. The Frenchman asked Odegaard not to leave, but seeing his insistence he gave in and allowed him to go to Arsenal; The few minutes he gave him until January made a dent in the relationship between them, it will be difficult for that confidence to return to 100% if Zizou decides to continue at the helm of Real Madrid.
If he does eventually leave and another coach arrives, that would give Odegaard a chance to start from scratch and earn his spot from the preseason. In any case, Madrid has already opened a debate about what to do with a player who has a crush on Arsenal and, specifically, Arteta.