Arsenal new boy Martin Odegaard has told the club’s official website that Mikel Arteta seems like a top manager.
The Gunners have been pursuing a new playmaker of late, even with homegrown talent Emile Smith Rowe turning in superb displays of late.
Arsenal have now decided to strike a loan deal, bringing Odegaard to the club until the end of the season having barely featured for Real this term.
The 22-year-old starred on loan at Real Sociedad last term with seven goals and nine assists in all competitions, but has still failed to land first-team football with Zinedine Zidane.
Odegaard now heads to Arsenal in search of first-team opportunities, and who knows – maybe he can earn a permanent move to the Emirates Stadium.
Guillem Balague noted earlier this week that Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta made a ‘crucial’ phone call to Odegaard, in which he convinced him to move to North London.
Odegaard has now confirmed as much, even using the word ‘crucial’ too when describing Arteta, claiming his first impression of the Spaniard is that he is a ‘top manager’ with good ideas.
Odegaard added that ‘everything just seems good’ at Arsenal, and loves how Arteta wants to play, believing this is a ‘good match’ for him.
“I spoke to him before coming here, of course,” said Odegaard. “That was very important for me and he seems like a top manager and I liked his ideas, the way he sees football and also the way he is. He gave me a great feeling and that was important for me to come here. He was crucial.”
“I think every time you go to a new place, you want to make sure that it feels good and that there is a plan. But I think everything here just seems good. I like the club and I always liked the way that the club wants to play. Everything about the club and now how the manager wants to play, I think it’s a club that really suits me well. So I think it’s a good match,” he added.
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