Arsenal might have landed the bargain signing of the season in the form of Martin Odegaard based on his recent performances. The Norwegian has been in outstanding form and was an integral part of the weekend 3-2 win at Watford that lifted the Gunners into the top four.
With Joe Willock joining Newcastle United for a fee of around £25m, Arsenal essentially upgraded their midfield for a cost of £5m and Real Madrid's misuse of another young talented midfielder could present a similar opportunity to the one that saw them prise Odegaard from the Bernabeu.
Eduardo Camavinga joined Real Madrid in the summer from Ligue 1 side Rennes but has struggled for game time since making the £27.7m switch to Los Blancos.
According to Spanish news outlet El Nacional, the French international is said to be growing frustrated with the lack of minutes he is receiving from Carlo Ancelotti.
Arsenal will need a midfielder in the summer, and Camavinga who has a similar style of play to Paul Pogba would be the perfect signing for Gunners if Edu were to attempt a repeat of the opportune business that saw a deal struck for Odegaard.
When speaking about Camavinga, Pogba has previously been on the record as saying: “He is very at ease, he is a little dancer. He makes me think a bit about me. He is not a timid person. It is good because he is confident. He has confidence in his qualities. He is a very good youngster, I like him enormously.”
The Gunners are set to be left short in the midfield position by the summer as football.london understands that Roma are expected to make a fresh attempt to sign Granit Xhaka at the end of the season.
Xhaka is tasked with a new role in one of the two number eight positions in the Gunners' 4-3-3 setup and while he has coped with the slight positional tweak, a player with greater mobility would certainly improve Arteta’s side in that area.
With the Swiss international’s future at the club uncertain, Camavinga could potentially represent good business for Arsenal given his left-footedness, the age of the player and his reputation for being among the most coveted young midfielders in world football.
And Edu can repeat the blueprint established to negotiate a deal for Odegaard if he was to press ahead with any such move.
After failing to break into the squad as a 16-year-old, Odegaard featured mostly for the Real Madrid Castilla team before multiple loans to the Dutch league for two seasons.
He then experienced a successful loan spell at Real Sociedad in 2019, which was supposed to offer him the first-team minutes to prepare him ahead of a return to Madrid. But despite flourishing at Sociedad and proving his capacity to adapt to La Liga football, his game time in Madrid remained limited and Arsenal came calling as they agreed a loan deal for the midfielder in the January 2021 transfer window.
This was followed by a permanent transfer that summer after he impressed during his initial brief stay in the Premier League.
Taking this into consideration and the difficulty he is likely to face in dislodging the existing midfield options at Real, Camavinga could well follow the same route as Odegaard who joined Real Madrid as a promising midfielder before him.
Camaviga is already a senior international for a French side who are currently the world champions, and the fact he is able to break into such a great team only underlines his quality.
He showed his abillty at Rennes when he broke in the first team as a 16-year-old and if he becomes available he is definitely a transfer that the Gunners should look to explore in the summer.
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