‘I would’ve’… Pundit thought Arsenal should’ve signed £40m Tottenham player instead of Martin Odegaard

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Cast your mind back to January 2021, and you’ll remember that Arsenal were desperate to sign a new creative midfielder.

The Gunners were linked with the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai and Emi Buendia at the time, but, ultimately, they signed Martin Odegaard on loan.

The Norwegian wasn’t actually that good during that initial loan spell, but, in the summer, Arsenal ultimately ended up signing him on a permanent basis.

Of course, that transfer eventually turned out to be an absolute masterstroke, but, at the time, it did seem rather underwhelming after a below-par loan spell for Odegaard.

Speaking on the Handbrake Off Podcast, Adrian Clarke has been discussing Odegaard’s early days at Arsenal, and he says that after that loan spell, his view was that Arsenal should’ve signed James Maddison instead.

Maddison over Odegaard

Clarke shared his verdict on Odegaard at the time.

“We were being linked with other players at the time as alternative attacking midfielders – James Maddison was among them. I was probably of the opinion that I would’ve gone for Maddison rather than Odegaard based on the form he showed during the loan spell,” Clarke said.

The right call

Arsenal will have been tempted to go for a number of different players around the time they signed Odegaard, but, in the end, they made the right call.

Indeed, Odegaard is now well on his way to being a club legend. He’s the best captain Arsenal have had for quite some time, and his performances on the pitch have been nothing short of mesmeric.

Odegaard is an utterly brilliant player, and while Maddison would’ve been a fantastic signing, we’re not sure many Arsenal fans would swap the two now.

Maddison has since joined Tottenham in a £40m deal where he’s performing brilliantly, but while he is doing fantastically, we’re not sure Arsenal are too jealous of Spurs having Maddison as their talisman.