Arsenal host Odegaard

Martin Odegaard, with the Arsenal shirt.

Martin Odegaard's return to Real Madrid only lasted six months.

At least for now.

The club made official this Wednesday what was taken for granted days ago: that the 22-year-old Norwegian is leaving on loan to Mikel Arteta's Arsenal until the end of the course.

The attacker understood that with Zinedine Zidane he was not going to play enough and preferred to seek affection in London.

The footballer communicated his wishes to the French coach a week ago and he did not hinder his departure despite the fact that the list of midfielders in the team is not abundant, that the very starters (Casemiro-Modric-Kroos) accumulate many hours of green , that Isco is unable to build a clear downward trajectory since the end of 2018, and that Valverde has just been injured (he has a week left to return).

Without the Nordic, the Whites now only have five means in the squad.

In some important matches last season (the Spanish Super Cup or the derby at home, among others), ZZ started to line up up to five players in that area.

Right now, with the Uruguayan in the infirmary, he barely has four.

Odegaard was the most important addition last summer in Valdebebas, a move that was considered perfect at the time: for its zero cost amid the salary cuts due to the pandemic;

his good performance the previous season at Real Sociedad, where he was on loan (seven goals and nine assists);

and because Zizou and the direction of the entity understood that his fresh legs would be very necessary to air the medullary.

The French coach claimed his return after falling in the knockout stages of the Champions League against Manchester City.

However, the coexistence in the Sports City did not work.

Apart from the two injuries suffered, the Norwegian's role was scarce and, when he played, his performances did not stand out either.

With Ceballos

He is the fifth player in the locker room with fewer minutes (367), only ahead of the caboose of the white house: Mariano, Jovic - now back at Eintracht - Odriozola and Lunin.

Of the last six games in which he was available, he only played five minutes against Celta with everything decided.

Even Isco overtook him in the rotation.

In Pamplona, ​​with a draw and a great need to seek new offensive avenues given the inability to disturb Osasuna, the one who appeared on the field midway through the second half was the Malaga player.

At the end of 2020, precisely when the news emerged that Isco would look for a way out, not easy, in the imminent winter market, Zidane publicly revealed that he was counting on him.

Last Tuesday, after hearing Odegaard's wishes to leave to play more, the French coach's reaction was colder.

“It is easy to say that I am to blame.

There are times when players, when they stay, they know what they have.

Real Madrid is complicated, I have lived it as a footballer.

Playing inside or outside is different.

What you have to do is, when you are inside, show yourself, with the competition that there is, that it is strong.

But it is not the fault of the coach.

The player has to demonstrate and it is what they want ”.

This was his answer to a question about another young man, Luka Jovic, who had scored a double on his return to Eintracht after his poor time at Madrid, but hours after those words the talk that Odegaard and Zizou had just had was known, and those statements took on another dimension.

At Arsenal, the Norwegian will meet Ceballos, another Madrid-owned footballer who has had no choice in the last two seasons but to find his way outside the Bernabéu in the face of Zizou's disaffection.

From his London refuge and with a contract until 2023, Odegaard will wait for the summer to see what future awaits him as a target, if ZZ continues and if the conditions are met in Valdebebas to promote the wide litter of young people to the first line of the team.