Did Real Madrid make a big mistake selling Odegaard to Arsenal?

Carlo Garganese

• 15 Jan 2023 12:30 CST
• 4 min read

Another game, another Martin Odegaard masterclass.

This time it was in the north London derby as the Norwegian rifled home a fantastic daisycutter into the bottom corner of the net to double Arsenal’s lead.

The Gunners were completely dominant at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Odegaard, Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka controlling the midfield.

DONE DEALS: January 2023 transfer window in Premier League

Odegaard again stood out, as he has all season for an Arsenal side who are now close to being considered favourites to win the Premier League.

While Man City and the rest of the chasing pack continue to drop points, Arsenal go from strength to strength.

They are now eight points clear at the top of the table after 18 games.

Odegaard, at the age of 24, is a symbol of this young, vibrant Arsenal side who are surprising everyone.

The 24-year-old now has a brilliant eight goals and five assists in 18 Premier League games in 2022-23.

This makes him the highest scoring midfielder in the EPL, with none of them being penalties. Only three players in England have more assists.

Quite simply, he is a goal contributing machine and he has proven to be an absolute bargain after joining Arsenal from Real Madrid in the summer of 2021 for €35 million.

When Odegaard originally moved to Real Madrid from Stromsgodset in 2015, he was just 15 years old and before he had his senior birthday he had already become Los Blancos’ youngest ever player.

Much was expected of the attacking midfielder after that moment, but the explosion that was expected of him never materialised in Spain.

Indeed, Odegaard would go on to play only 11 matches for Real Madrid over the course of his stay.

After several loan moves, some of which showed promise, he ultimately switched on a permanent basis to Arsenal in the summer of 2021 - having earlier spent six months on loan at the Emirates.

During 2021-22, Odegaard was impressive enough with seven goals and five assists. He has already matched that total by the middle of January in his second full season, as he goes from strength to strength.

Real Madrid will surely be watching on and wondering whether they made a mistake letting Odegaard go too early.

While they have boasted the best midfield trio of a generation in Casemiro, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos for much of the last decade, that trident is now being broken up.

Casemiro has joined Man Utd, and Modric and Kroos’ contracts expire at the end of the current season as they go deep into their thirties.

Odegaard could have been the ideal successor to these superstars - but Real Madrid’s loss is Arsenal’s gain.