Mikel Arteta has revealed some of the background on the club’s two latest signings, Martin Odegaard and Aaron Ramsdale.
The Gunners spent a combined £54m bringing in the duo from Real Madrid and Sheffield United respectively, and both are in line to play in the League Cup against West Brom on Wednesday night.
Odegaard spent the second half of last season on loan in North London, but it looked as if a permanent move was off the table, until things changed in the last couple of weeks.
“I was really happy because at one stage we thought it wouldn’t be possible, Madrid wasn’t very keen on selling the player,” said the Arsenal boss.
“Martin always expressed his desire to come, but it wasn’t looking very possible and then the door opened and straight away the club was really supportive and Edu did a great job to manage the situation and we got the player that we wanted and we know because we have experience already with him for six months.
“I think he makes the rest of the players around him better. His work ethic is phenomenal, the way he goes about his job, his professionalism, his character, he’s a very likeable person.
“I think he has fitted really well into the culture and then for the way we want to play he’s a player with exceptional qualities to add to them.”
As for Ramsdale, Arteta’s desire to bring the 23 year old was made clear by personal conversations he had with the player throughout the summer, and he was, by some distance, the manager’s preferred target for this position.
“With Aaron I spoke to him a few times before he signed and I was really impressed with his personality and his character,” he said.
“We need two goalkeepers, two top goalkeepers in this club, it’s always been the case and when I was here we always had two really good goalkeepers with different qualities and different age profiles and they need to compete.
“That’s what we want in every situation. Every role we want people to compete and the goalkeeper situation is no different.”
Let’s hope both can contribute tomorrow evening, as we seek our first goals and first win of the new season – which would be a small boost ahead of a daunting trip to play Man City on Saturday lunchtime.
I’m looking forward to odegaard being back. I wasn’t his biggest fan but time without him has highlighted how he knits the play together.
Also I don’t care if we play boring calm football for a while and incrementally improve over the next 10 games with the players that will be here for at least a few years together.
4 players that will instantly improve with odegaard on the pitch will be whoever the right back is Pepe, esr and xhaka
Definitely! And I think Sambi I will enjoy linking with him in midfield too. Having a player like Øde to ping progressive balls into, knowing he can hold and release them smartly, can relieve some of the pressure on the base of the midfield, and so on the defence. His ability to find and use space, and make the right passes, is right up Wengers alley. He used to talk about the passing system being like red/green lights, if the passes are on/blocked, and how a good passing team moves alot off the ball to consistently make lots of green… Read more »
Arteta – We need two goalkeepers, two top goalkeepers in this club
Also Arteta – Let’s sell Martinez and buy Runarsson.
He wanted to go! What is wrong with people literally making stories up as they go.
Players aren’t prisoners, if they want to leave then off they go. We’re not Spurs.
You have to ask yourself WHY they wanted to go…..😉
He wanted to go if he could not be first choice over Leno.
Get over it lads we had him for 10years and he was happy to sit it out then had a good run in the team and wanted out end of.
As in… I can’t understand this obsession with Martinez. He is close to Leno in age and didn’t want to hang around to complete and wanted guarantee as #1. They wanted Raya, but he wasn’t available and they identified someone younger and British, if people know someone else who fits the young and British but experienced and affordable, then by all means complain about that. Please let’s stop this Martinez matter and move on to support Ramsdale.
It’s really hard not to have a certain level of obsession when the player you sold, who was at the club for a decade, is now one of the best in the division, if not the world. And the one you kept looks very shaky and not at all in keeping with the philosophy of the manager. A lot of fans knew that Martinez was a better goalie. Just like a lot of fans didn’t want Willian. Ah well, you’re right. Just get over the fact you let a stellar academy goalkeeper go and kept a guy there is no… Read more »
Can you imagine how shit it must feel to get a big transfer to a club you’re excited to play for and work to earn your place… and then the fans bitch and moan about signing you, and even take to your social media to harass you? I hope this kid plays lights out and puts those people to shame. Seems the word supporter is not worth much these days. You want to complain about something, complain to the club management, not at a young promising player who hasn’t even played a single day for us yet. Give the kid… Read more »
And support Runnarson of course.
Yeah, there’s nothing we could have done to convince Emi to stay. It was completely out of our hands.
We have lost alot better players over the years than Martinez. Can anyone remember the feeling the day Henry left? I have to say I barely knew who Martinez was until he had a good run in the team last season He did look good but he’s gone now and I think Ramsdale had a good debut so let’s get behind him and stop worrying about stuff we can”t change.
Buying Runnarson because he was cheap and kept in contact with Inaki was the single unprofessional thing Arteta did. Not good for the player at all and pretty bad for the club as well.
Wenger signed a certain Amaury Biscoff.
Your mum gave birth to you, but she still loves you.
I was camping this weekend. Not something I’ve done for a long time and never with the kids. Got pissed wet through on Saturday but we had good shelter and all sat around under it. Big gang of families with our kids. Anyway, at some point someone pulls out a jar of this stuff from Aldi called Biscoff spread. It looks like smooth peanut butter but is somehow related to the cinnamon biscuits of the same name you often get in a continental style cafe with your coffee. My friend who’d brought it proceeded to spread it on to rich… Read more »
What about that guys whose name ends in ‘N’ and starts with ‘W’? Pretty sure that was up there.
Add to that signing will-i-ain’t and you can see where last season went wrong
How many games did he single handedly lose us whilst he was in goal though? Correcr…none. And now he’s been replaced so what are you worrying about? Wenger bought Igor Stepanovs..doesn’t mean he knew nothing about transfers
Does anyone remember the brilliant “Let It Go” parody about Fabregas? Sounds like we need to a new version about a certain keeper.
Re the Martinez deal, that’s called hindsight my friend. He had 6 loan spells over (I think) 7 years. I don’t recall any other clubs clamouring to buy him, or a bidding war with Villa.
Would I rather have Emi over Leno? yes. Would I have made the same decision as Arteta last year? Probably.
We may well replace our manager this year, but let’s not just make shit up.
Trying to thumb this up more than once…🤦
Martinez couldn’t get a call up from an Argentine side who went to the 2018 World Cup with what is quite possibly the worst pair of goalies to have ever featured in that competition. There was something about his game, or his preparation that didn’t impress an entire slew of teams, those with his rights, and those who could have bought him for an inanimate carbon rod.
This is 2021, mate. Move on.
Watch Sambi get benched by Arteta the second Partey is fit again. You forget Xhaka is here for good and Arteta lives him his Xhaka.
I’ll be very interested to see how he manages to incorporate Saka, Auba, Pepe, Odegaard, ESR all in the same team. Seems like one may need to be sacrificed or move deeper. But Partey, Xhaka seem to have cemented their places when available and I don’t really see it as the ideal place to deploy any of the aforementioned. Plus Sambi seems to have proven himself a worthy replacement for either Partey or Xhaka.
Perhaps the best way to get all our best players on the field at once is to move Saka to RB? Probably not a popular option, but he was stellar his first season at LB, proven he can contribute goals and assists even from deep and even from the right… so why not from deep right? Gets them all on the field and solves our RB issue. Seems a bit of a shame to have to deploy him there, but Saka overlapping Pepe cutting in seems like it could be very dangerous. Tierney and ESR combined well on the left… Read more »
It’ll probably be rare to a) have them all match fit, or b) tactically want them all on at the same time. Rotation will see them all play.
Partey, Lokonga and Odegaard’s progressive, line-breaking passing transforms this team IMO. Regardless of what anyone thinks of Arteta, it makes no sense to bin him before we have a defence and these guys play together.
Widmer End also played progressive through the lines Football I seem to recall
Our team appears not improved even after spending a big amount on paper. This is because all this money went to replacing players who did not bring in money as they went out. Getting huge transfer fees as a club might be the most important aspect to the long term competitiveness of Arsenal football club. This season is a huge step in this right direction with the young signings. Future English internationals in Ramsdale and White will also be valuable.
Not sure why the downvotes, you’re spot on. Whatever else happens, with Arteta, with our senior players, we’ve added some important assets to our portfolio. That’s abhorrent to say out loud but it’s a fact. Lokonga, tiernet, balogun, esr, saka, martinelli, white, ramsdale all could appreciate in value. That’s a potential half a billion value in our first team. Selling even one of them if they have a monster year could fund a promising player in 2 positions. That’s what Liverpool did to great success and I suggest we take note. There will be more pain before it gets better… Read more »
No, I think the reason for the downvotes is apparent. You don’t say the team hasn’t improved after spending big because the players we spent on have hardly been involved.
And we did spend big money. Not just on paper.
I suspect that with the poor start to the season Arteta will not be given the opportunity to see these signings develop…
He hasn’t developed anyone at this club. Willock left and broke records.
Should have kept joe and gave him a proper run in the team instead of buying Odegaard who is vastly overrated.
Or possibly underrated by you alone
Odegaard will also ve important in our pressing game. He’s a intelligent player and is able to both press and cut passing lanes at the same time. Pepe might learn something there …
To be fair Pepe significantly increased his off the ball contribution in the second half of last season and finished one of the best performers in the squad. If he Keeps that up he will surely have a great year.
He was shit when he was on loan. He left us to go back to Madrid instead of wanting to stay. He then gets the boot by Madrid and suddenly he wants to come back to Arsenal and stupidly we let him. No other club interested in signing him. I wonder why…
Dude, get a life.
These are hard times as fellow Gooners but trust me there’s nothing much we could do. The fact that we are “the Highest spenders” this window tells you a lot….. All I can say is let’s just rally behind the team for Norwich cause that’s when things will be clearer….. COYG
Problem is we never really fixed any of our first team problems with our signings. Cm/rb should have been no.1 priority and we didn’t sign a first teamer there.
Fair play we sorted out our backup gk in the end though
Who is sanctioning the spending? 130 mil on “prospects” that look decidedly average. An absolute joke of a Transfer window. Will do nothing to improve the team this year. Questionable if any improvement will be realized with those signings in the future. I read ramsdale let in 125 goals in 2 seasons in the pl…lol…that says it all. Odegaard?! Madrid reject no one else wanted. Willock is better. Ben White a midget CB who gets bossed by Brentford! Fck me what a disaster our club is…
Ever consider the fact that having played last year together the same squad might all gel better this year? Had we not had that horrendous run we would have been comfortably top 4 last year believe it or not not to mention Europa League. We can improve for sure but wasn’t all bad
Our GKs when Arteta was an Arsenal player were Szczesny and Fabianski. Both youth products. And the latter was routinely criticized when he was here.
This goalkeeper carousel is not new – still don’t understand why we replaced Szczesny with Cech. But, Arsene lived and died by how those decisions worked out in practice rather than abstract principles such as “we need two good keepers” or “we need a clear number 1”. So will Arteta.
Szczesny had some disciplinary problems and I think that played a big part in his departure.
Wenger was a brilliant man manager but it felt at the time like Szczesny broke a non-negotiatiable.
Unfortunately it came at a time when Wenger’s powers were waining and instead of sending a message that unified the players left, we ended up getting weaker and further into the terminal decline.
Fuck being a manager.
Haha. That’s so well put. It never ceases to amaze me how some fans see managerial choices as black and white. The notion is that all decisions are seemingly simple, like the four-button options on a ps4 controller. The reality though, is that managing a real-life football club is not like creating a fantasy football team. Buy this person. Get rid of that person. Keep him. Lose him. If only it were that simple – engineered to be fun and with a very little genuine challenge. Sorry gamers – they are designed to make you think you are smart and… Read more »
Agree that the Manager Mode mentality is rife, I laugh when people seriously list 8 or 9 new players to replace existing ones. Thing is, it’s easy for that kind of thinking to become popular when the people who are paid to think are not thinking. I’m not talking about Arteta – he’s done about as well as I expected, which is not much, given his previous experience. I’m talking about the people who appointed Arteta, who would love for us to eternally watch a re-build, because ‘re-builds’ cost less money than titles. Even this 130m of spending is cheaper… Read more »
There’s a very good pod-cast discussion that I listened to this morning. Very level headed. In particular – I think the points made about the way the club is run – are poignant. Have a listen.
https://aca.st/fcbfb8
We’re in a tailspin within the void that Wenger left. Whatever your feelings about the man in the later stage of his career as Arsenal boss – you have to agree he left a giant hole.
Isn’t the “giant hole left by Wenger” due to poor planning by the club? – flip flopping over Wenger’s successor (it was Arteta seemingly for the longest time before Emery eventually got the job) – mslintat arriving and leaving in a very short time – Raul and his book of contacts – not backing Freddie with any real conviction And when you look and analyse the revolving door of personnel when it comes to coaching and player recruitment since Arsene’s departure, it hardly speaks of a well laid out plan. Whilst I was never in the “Wenger Out” camp, I… Read more »
Also I feel, with hindsight, Cech may be up there as one of the worst signings we ever made. The man was a fucking monster for Chelsea. Annoyingly good. Then he signed for us and was hot garbage on his debut and pretty much mediocre there after. The drop off, for no fathomable reason, was huge. Now he’s back at Chelsea and, if reports are true, celebrating Chelsea goals against us in our directors box. Easy to see why his form went out the window. He came here to bump his pension and nothing else. Good job we learnt our… Read more »
Cech kept us in so many games
Golden glove too in his first season
We had Ospina and a smoking Szczesny at that point
Massive improvement at the time
At this point, patience has to be the watchword. Pundits have done everything in their power to make Arsenal look hopeless. Cara, Neville, Owen, Keane and even Merson, have elevated Arsenal bashing to an art. They totally ignore the injuries and illness in camp. I am not making a case for Arteta; I am as frustrated as anyone else. But if the signings come together, in a season or two, we may be up to something special. I am not hung up on Arteta: the club could sack him for all I care; but I feel our fortunes will improve… Read more »
Mate we’ve finished 8th twice in a row and play shit football regardless of injuries. Wake up.
We’ve just signed 5 players with the average age of 22, mate. That is clearly a paradigm shift. Add Martinelli, Saka, Tierney, Balogun, ESR, Gabriel to that, the plan becomes clearer.
Give them room to settle and grow.
Happy to have both players in, we just need to have a management staff who understand how to structure a team together and secondly are able let them fulfill their potential
What’s that? Bring Overmars and ten Hag in you say? I certainly agree😉
We have got the Ajax kit this year….
🤣🤣🤣. We actually do
being keep going on about us being the highest spender this window but we’ve brought in five quality players. it’s very different to spending big on one single player like bringing in Lukaku as a cherry on top of a good team. the team needed an almost complete overhaul. we still need at least one quality right back and maybe even a striker too.
I agree. I’ve liked this transfer window so far despite no additional CM and RB signings. Tavares has great vision, speed and crossing but from what I’ve seen, he still has to work on other aspects of his game. I also think he has a similar running gait to Welbeck which makes him easy to knock off balance.
Well spotted GH.
Arsenal … 5 players for £129m is 25.8m each
Man City …1 player in for £100mill
Chelsea ….1 player in for £97.5 mill
Man U. ……2 Players in for. £114mill is 77mill each.
57m*
What was left unsaid is even at the lower figure, its more than twice what we paid per player.
Currently we couldn’t win a game even if we gave the officials brown paper bags loaded with money!!!
I’d opt for giving Mike Riley a paper bag full of dogshit instead. Would be a laugh win or lose
How many games does everyone realistically think Arteta has to turn this around? I personally think if we don’t beat Norwich he should go. I know it’s only four games into the season but, like it or not, that’s a six-pointer.
he’s got at least the first 13 prem league games of the season
But is there any money left for a right-back?
Depends on who goes.
And honestly I don’t really care about the club’s pocketbook unless it leads to them saying they’re not going to try.
The money is there.
But the squad space and wage bill must be cleared up first.
We always need 2 quality keepers. Says the man who sold Martinez and bought Runarrson 😂
Rest
We’ll let it rest when we have better goalkeeping than Villa or the people responsible for the decision are out of the club, whichever’s earlier.
He is out of the club,Martinez wanted to leave.
I’m not certain about Ramsdale, but to be voted player of the year twice when you’re in goal as your team(‘s) get relegated – says that he’s got something about him (not sure if that ‘something’ is bad luck or quality – I guess we’ll find out soon enough). I’m already convinced of Odegaard’s quality – but for the ankle injury when playing for Norway – I’m certain we would have seen more of it last season. If we can get Partey, Sambi and Odegaard in a midfield three (Odegaard is convinced he’s better as an 8 rather than a… Read more »
Just remember a lot of the people who didn’t want us to buy Ramsdale because he’s been relegated are the same people who desperately wanted us the sign Buendia despite the fact he’d been relegated.
The only conclusion you can make is that these people don’t have a clue what they’re talking about
Ramsdale has played once for us, did a good job so would be unfair to write him off just yet. As for Pepe and Martinelli, I wonder if Pepe can be converted to play up top instead of a wide forward, if he can, perhaps he is in contention to be an option for a longer term replacement for Auba. Martinelli and Balogun will of course be looking at those spots to stake their claim too, even so, it’s good for the three of them to be able to learn off of Auba and Laca in the short term. Saka… Read more »
This lad has bitchin hair.