Piers Morgan will not be alone in hoping Arsenal sign Martin Odegaard on a permanent basis having watched his starring role against West Ham.
The Real Madrid loanee played a pivotal role in all three goals as the Gunners came from 3-0 down to salvage a draw at the London Stadium on Sunday.
Odegaard has become a crucial member of Arsenal’s squad
Arsenal fan Morgan was so impressed by Odegaard that he claimed the 22-year-olds performance was better than any of Mesut Ozils over the past five years.
Ozil ended his eight-year spell with the club by joining Fenerbahce in January after being frozen out by manager Mikel Arteta.
This guy just put in a better performance than we saw from Ozil in the past five years,” Morgan tweeted.
Serious talent, terrific work ethic, great mentality. We need to sign him permanently.”
And his manager was similarly impressed, believing he took the game by the scruff of the neck and kept calm when things were bad.
“I love talented and creative players who are willing to make things happen,” Arteta said afterwards.
It’s true that Martin is giving us a different level in certain things we didn’t have.
He had an incredible performance. I think he was very intelligent the way he read the game. He showed how much he wants to win.
When everyone was a little bit trembling, he gave us that stability, that composure on the ball and created chance after chance.”
However, Arsenal fans can only dream of signing Odegaard on a permanent transfer, according to El Confidencial journalist Kike Marin.
The playmaker has another two years left on his Real Madrid contract with a 350million buyout clause, he noted, adding that Zinedine Zidane will be key in any decision.
Martin Odegaard vs West Ham

• 93 per cent pass accuracy
• 95 touches
• 16 penalty area entries (most)
• 9 crosses (most)
• 6 duels won
• 5 touches in opp. box
• 4 take-ons (most)
• 4 chances created (most)
• 3 shots
• 2 fouls won
• 1 shot on target