‘Easily’: Alan Smith says Martin Odegaard is worth £80m now, despite initial doubts

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Arsenal waltzed past Bournemouth yesterday and Martin Odegaard was one of the main men in the performance yet again.

The new Arsenal captain has hit the ground running this season and seems to be taking the leadership role given to him by Mikel Arteta seriously. Yesterday was his first brace for the club and at the moment, Odegaard seems to be loving working with Arsenal’s new signings such as Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko.

Of course, the Gunners paid around £30m for Odegaard. At the time, there were some raised eyebrows from the footballing world. But according to former Gunner Alan Smith, that money now looks like peanuts and there’d be no batted eyelids if he was sold now for around the £80m mark.

“Their recruitment, it’s so difficult to get these sort of players. I think it shines a great light on the recruiting system, they are so together. I mean they paid £30m for Martin Odegaard and at the time I think some fans were thinking ‘£30m for Odegaard’. But I mean you get £80m for him now easily,” Smith said on Sky Sports.

TBR’s View: Odegaard Shining As Arsenal Captain

What a player Martin Odegaard is becoming. Years ago when he was signed by Real Madrid there was an expectation on his shoulders. And now, finally, it looks like he’s living up to the promise.

Odegaard was simply brilliant yesterday and with the new signings in place, the Norwegian midfielder looks to have taken his game to another level.

Smith makes a good point about his value too. £30m now looks an absolute snip for Odegaard and Smith is right in that if he was sold for more, nobody would even notice. Really, it’s quite remarkable work by the Gunners’ recruitment team.