Arsenal’s move to sign Martin Odegaard from Real Madrid is one of their biggest recent masterstrokes in the transfer market, and they’re now looking at a similar opportunity.
The Gunners are reportedly keen on Madrid youngster Arda Guler, who is currently struggling for playing opportunities at the Bernabeu, just as Odegaard did during his time there as a youngster.
According to Sport, Guler is being looked at by Arsenal, with the report mentioning the similarities with the Odegaard deal, which turned out to be a huge success for the north London giants.
Although the Norway international struggled at Real, he is now a star player for Arsenal and was made club captain by Mikel Arteta a couple of years ago.
Guler is another player who clearly has tremendous potential, but who is just struggling with the quality and depth of competition in this Los Blancos squad.
Arsenal fans will likely be aware that their club is in need of a bit more spark in attack, and Guler could be the player to provide that.
The 19-year-old has shown glimpses of real ability, even if he’s not been able to get on the pitch that often, so it’s possible that a coach like Arteta could work wonders with him.
AFC took a bit of a gamble on Odegaard when they signed him, and Guler might represent a similar gamble – there’s simply no guarantee he’ll bounce back from this disappointing period.
Odegaard did, though, so that might give Arsenal confidence here, with Guler surely not losing all that natural talent that he displayed at former club Fenerbahce.
Madrid were obviously convinced enough to sign him at that time, and perhaps he can still make it in Spain, but if not, he could do a lot worse than choose the Emirates Stadium as a potential destination for him to revive his career.