The six signings that Mikel Arteta and technical director Edu brought into the club last summer have all made an impact and contributed to the ongoing chase for the Champions League qualification spots.
Yet there remains a standout outfield presence who has elevated both his and Arsenal’s game. Martin Odegaard has become the centre of plenty of conversations around the successes of the current Gunners season and for numerous reasons.
In The Arsenal Way’s weekly Analysing Arsenal show, where I am joined by one of Reach’s scouting writers, I spoke to Josh Williams to catch up on the Gunners’ win over Brentford and look ahead to the clash with Wolves.
Within, we resumed what has become a running theme of our discussions, the importance and quality of Martin Odegaard. And just when I believed there was the perfect opportunity to throw the 23-year-old’s top displays at Josh, he countered expertly and expectantly well.
Josh and I have had some brilliant back and forths surrounding Odegaard. Whilst I am more than happy to allow myself to get carried away with the idea that the Norwegian will become an all-time great, Josh provides an outside and emotionally unattached perspective to keep me grounded.
Therefore, when I asked Josh whether he had deviated from his “beige” description of Odegaard from a previous show earlier in the season, Josh quite rightly responded by saying, “Has he been scoring or assisting? Let me see.”
I was quick to point out that there’s more to his game than those raw figures, but Josh again eloquently explained his point on the former Real Madrid man.
“That is what I mean though when I say beige in an attacking sense. There are plenty of nice players over the years who have been very pleasing on the eye. Very effective when it comes to playing in tight spaces, when it comes to playing in dangerous areas.
“But when it comes to what matters in a football sense, scoring and assisting, they don’t do that much and Odegaard looks to me like one of those players. He’s a nice player but he’s not an output merchant or a numbers freak.
“As I have said to you before, that’s fine as long as you surround him with players who are like that. But if the emphasis is on Odegaard, if you had a team of Odegaard's you'd draw a lot of matches.”
Josh and I may not agree on Odegaard but there is an important point that we do agree on which is that Arsenal need more than the Norwegian because granted he will not provide the big numbers that the likes of Bruno Fernandes or Kevin De Bruyne might.
Thankfully Mikel Arteta has the solution in the form of Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe, Gabriel Martinelli and, as proven last night, Nicolas Pepe.
Odegaard has the Santi Cazorla feel about him. He may not provide the huge numbers but his influence on the Arsenal team and his ability to improve the performances of those around him will be vital for the Gunners’ top-four hopes.
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