World class midfielder has revealed why he decided to JOIN Arteta at Arsenal

Pic courtesy of GETTY IMAGES

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard revealed he joined the Gunners because he knew manager Mikel Arteta was “onto something really special”.

Odegaard told The Players’ Tribune: “I spoke to Mikel on a Zoom call and he told me all about the project. Arsenal were not doing well at the time. They were way down in like 15th in the table.

“But he told me his plan, everything he was building towards and he knew exactly what he needed to change at the club. He told me all about these amazing young players in the squad – Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Emile Smith Rowe – and he explained how I was going to fit in and improve.

“I got this strong feeling that he was onto something really special. And even when we finished eighth at the end of my first season here, no-one at the club lost faith in what we were doing.

“It was all part of the plan and though we’re in the title race now there is still a long way to go and no one is thinking about May yet”

He added:

“I’ve always had this weird connection to Arsenal. It started long before I signed. I don’t even really know how to explain it, except with one little story.

“I’ve never been that much into video games. I am of that generation that always played outside, but the one exception was FIFA. I mostly played Career Mode. You know, where you get to be the manager?

“The club I always chose to manage was Arsenal . They were my FIFA team. Growing up in Norway, I watched a lot of Premier League and I just had this good feeling about Arsenal. I’d seen clips of Thierry Henry and the Invincibles.

“I knew the club had a history of developing playmakers like Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Mesut Ozil — really smart, technical players, who were good on the ball and played the difficult passes. My kind of players.

“As I got older, around the 2015 edition, I started actually appearing in FIFA. I didn’t look much like me at first. I think I was like a 67 overall, but I was actually in the game and it was a big deal.

“So, naturally, one of the first things I did when I was pretending to be Arsene Wenger on Career Mode was to buy myself. Me and Arsenal. It just seemed like a good match in my head”

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