Arsenal has fixed a price for Martin Odegaard's move, but there's a major issue.
The attacking midfielder is on Arsenal's radar for the summer transfer window after impressing during his loan spell from Real Madrid for the second half of the season
JoriPress
Mikel Arteta, the manager of Arsenal, has expressed his desire to sign Martin Odegaard.
In terms of incomings, one of the Gunners' primary transfer targets this summer is to buy a creative midfielder, and their first preference is to bring the Norway international back after an excellent loan spell.
However, according to JoriPress, if Arsenal technical director Edu fails in his effort to get Odegaard back to north London, Emiliano Buendia would be the main target, with a £40 million deal being readied for the playmaker.
Although it is evident that Arteta prefers to sign Odegaard on a long-term deal, conversations with Real Madrid are expected to take place in the next weeks.
"We have a very clear and strong position on what we want to achieve," Arteta stated following the 2-0 Premier League victory over Brighton on the final day of the season.
"We'll have to talk about it in the next weeks, and we'll have to respect him first and foremost since he's a Real Madrid player with those communications."
"We tried all we could to persuade Martin [Odegaard] to perform for the squad, and I believe he has."
"He's done a fantastic job of adapting to our style of play and our football club."
Hopefully, we've given him optimism and the impression that it would be a good fit for him."
With that stated, Odegaard's situation is now murky, since Real Madrid parted ways with Zinedine Zidane last week, meaning the new manager might make the final choice on the playmaker's future.
However, according to rumours in Spain, Real Madrid is aiming to unload Odegaard on a permanent basis, regardless of who takes over as manager.
Arsenal has apparently been advised that £51.5 million is the absolute'minimum price' to strike an agreement for Odegaard, which is a significant rise.
However, there is a huge issue with this arrangement, and it involves Real Madrid president Florentino Perez.
According to the Mirror, Los Blancos' manager is Odegaard's strongest supporter at the club and would veto any deal that would see the 22-year-old go for good.
So, unless Edu can persuade Perez to change his mind, it appears like Arsenal will be forced to pursue Odegaard alternatives.
