I watch him play it is so smooth it's so silky his vision is magnificent he's a beautiful player me that is an absolute unbelievable football player and I think the best player in the league very different than just talented this is real class know going to Real Madrid at 16 going on L to sashido which sort of give him the confidence then you bring him into Arsenal and then after a year or two you make him Captain so onetto recognizes the player and the character and he's a beautiful footballer to watch I think he knits
everything together a playmaker capable of creating something out of nothing someone who truly understands what it means to be a gunner so how did Arsenal managed to steal Martin odard to replace the once Untouchable mezard oza 44 goals and 75 assists in all competitions mesero was magical at Arsenal especially in his first few seasons seven goals and 13 assists in his first season then 20 assists in his third then 12 goals and 14 assists in 2017 the vision the touch the class he was showing Arsenal fans thought he would be Irreplaceable but what if I
told you in 2021 Arsenal found someone even better from the same Club than Badoo Arsenal is a massive club with a rich history in the past few years stars and youngsters didn't understand what it meant to play for Arsenal OZO was one of them nobody doubted his talent he had some incredible moments with some Arsenal teams that weren't the best had Drew been able to actually finish his chances OZO probably would have broken the Premier League assist record he helped personal and their trophy drought and on his day was a joy to watch but things
such as fighting with murder sacer because he didn't thank the traveling supporters after a 6-3 defeat in Manchester City along with his low defensive work rate definitely rubbed people the wrong way common criticism of you and this perception is that you're a lazy player he don't trap back he's the laziest player in the team let's be real now yeah he's the laziest player in the team BL but because we've got Ozil he gets a black he was not the player who really typically uh fighted for the ball you didn't see the work rate that English
football fans also you know like to like to see at times OZO looked disinterested especially when he didn't have the ball his form was also inconsistent he would go on a run of games where he was playing at the highest level imaginable and then for her next run of games would disappear when Arsenal won he was the best player on the pitch but when they had lost it was usually due to him being invisible things weren't going well you know you tended not to see him at all in the game when things are not working
well in his way um I'm I think he was not was not easy to handle and as time went on his Primadonna attitude was harder to justify as his output on the pitch wasn't the same he was never the type of player to press a lot or have a really high defensive work rate or even be willing to do the Dirty Work in the center of the park his unwillingness to accept Etta's non-negotiables was the final straw in his Arsenal career but odard is pretty much the complete opposite he saw arteta's Vision early and understood
that Arsenal is one of the most stable clubs in England spoke to him before before coming here of course so that was very important for me and uh he seems like a top manager and yeah I really liked his ideas the the way he sees football and and also the the way he is so he he gave me a great feeling and and that was important for me a lot of people claim that the fall of oo came from the number 10 role slowly disappearing from the game as teams transition to using more pressing and
running as opposed to having a traditional playmaker but odard is showing that role isn't gone it's just changed he picked up 15 goals and seven assists in the 2023 season Then followed up with an 11 goal and 11 assist season in 2024 as he led the Gunners to challenge for the premier league title in back-to-back Seasons odard became the first player on record since 2004 to complete 100 plus passes create at least five chances and assist multiple goals in the same Premier League match the left foot the ability to get out of tight space is
the vision odard style of play is very oo he ended the 2024 season as the player with the most chances created from open play in the Premier League some of the passes odard can find are insane and throughout the years he has developed his shot so when he gets it on his left foot he is a goal threat as well now you might argue that OZO could do all of these things as well but what gives odard the edge is that he had all the intangibles but if I have to use him as a an
example for the rest of the team is why he does without the ball he's one of our most talented player the way he tracks by the way he runs he presses for 90 minutes he works for the team it's why he was given the captain's armband early in his Arsenal career and while he is also the captain of the Norwegian national team he fires up the crowd encourages his teammates even if he isn't performing at his best he can impact the team in multiple different ways he can Elevate their performance it's not a surprise that
he won Arsenal's player of the Season back to back odard can lead a team in a way that OZO was never able to it could be oar's Journey to the top that led him to develop in ways that OZO never day you see OZO Rose through the ranks in Germany quite seamlessly really coming into the spaight after the 2010 World Cup ODOT on the other hand was a talent from Norway a country not famously known for producing top level footballers you might now see the likes of erlin Holland and Oscar Bob but it's still a
rare sight to see odard is considered one of the very best midfielders in the world but at one point he was about to be added to the list of teenage superstars who never fulfilled their potential did you ever let some of that get to you when people were perhaps even calling you a flop because you haven't been able to show them exactly what you were about I mean how do you deal with that as a young player early in his career there was a lot of hype around odar at a young age he was already
playing with older kids he was seen as a prodigy being included in the first team at the age of 15 without even having signed a professional contract aged 15 years and 118 days he became the youngest footballer ever to play in the TP League G he made his League debut on the 13th of April 2014 11 days later he scored his first professional goal and became the youngest goal scorer in the league when he scored the fourth goal in a 4-1 home Victory he was so good that established players like jarisa demanded that he be
called up to the Norway National Team five goals and seven assists in 23 appearances for strums GZA the world was beginning to take notice of his talent called the Norwegian Messi due to his magical left foot and style of play Real Madrid Came Calling they St him for €4 million EUR with add-ons that could rise up to 8.5 million Real Madrid announced that odard would train with both the club's first team and the result reserves the hype for this transfer was crazy it was everywhere from TV to social media it was the second coming of
Messi almost uh he was that good but the excitement of the move came to an end very quickly in April odard was dropped from Real Madrid Castilla after a run of four defeats with staff finding problems with him trading with the first team while playing for the reserves in addition to a language barrier and chilote urged fans to be patient as odard settles in a new country he was called up for the match they Squad after injuries to Bale modri and Benzema but he didn't feature in the match on the 23rd of May the final
game of the season he finally got his chance coming on as a sub against katf he became the youngest debutant in the history of the club at 16 years and 157 days old at the same time he was finally becoming a regular starter at Castilla however these performances were not considered good enough for Los Blancos in an effort to help OD guard's development he was sent on loan to Dutch Club se hent he himself told Fox Sports that he was pleased to change his surroundings hoping that the time away from the attention of media and
fans would allow him to improve his ability but even in a new environment odar couldn't get on the right track his start to his time at herin Vin was poor having only one shot and one assist in his first seven games actually quite disheartening to see Ard not quite live up to the hype that was surrounding him at the time and he was later pushed to the substitutes bench by manager Juran stle in 2018 he became a regular starter but his performances were still far away from the expectations that people had especially for a guy
who was considered the Norwegian Messi he was loan out again from Real Madrid this time to vitess like other youngsters who were hyped too early like hakee Mur and halilovic it seemed that odard was on the same path a youngster that was hyped too much too early potentially and maybe even made a jump to a big Club too soon but what separated odard from the other youngsters that had flopped in the past was his mentality he was strong and pushed through really shining at the test he got 11 goals and 12 assists in his one
season there and was also voted as the club's best player of the Season by the fans the next season he was loan out again but he maintained his good form at real sidat he put on a man ofe match performance against Atletico Madrid and was named the La Liga player of the month for September in February he actually scored against Real Madrid eliminating his parent Club from the Copa del re sadad had a very successful season winning the Copa del re and clinching a Europa League spot fun fact odard was teammates with Mel Marino at
his time at sedak with the two players being reunited again at Arsenal odard was now in great form and while he might not be playing at the level that people expected for somebody that was considered a prodigy it was obvious that he was no flop after two successful Lan SS odard made it very clear to Real Madrid that he wanted to leave he wanted stability and consistent first team football he ended up joining Arsenal on loan as artetta saw the Norwegian as the solution to the creativity issues at Arsenal he made us better um we
needed more options Alternatives creativity especially since at this time it was clear that OZO was not part of arteta's plans artetta had seen something in odard and he was right odard looked fantastic in the 6 months he was at London he scored a 20 yard strike against olympos scored his first Premier League goal in the north London Derby and was voted Arsenal's player of the month for March it should come as no surprise that odard was signed permanently by Arsenal in the summer of 2021 odard continued to shine in an Arsenal team that was quite
inconsistent artetta was early in his Arsenal project he was trying to make his own stamp but was also trying to get rid of the Deadwood at the club odard though was very much part of his plan as he was named the new captain of the Gunners after the departure of obang and La is it but what I've seen over the last 18 months that he's been at the club with us that he represent the values of this football club of this team of his teammates and his staff in the best possible way ever since that
moment odard has only gotten better and better his first season as Captain he got 15 goals and seven assists in all competitions as Arsenal shocked every Everyone by jumping from Fifth Place the season before to becoming title contenders odard was awarded the Premier League Player of the Year award at the 20123 London football awards and included in the PFA Team of the Year Arsenal had sign oo as an established star but with odard they were developing their own star the next season his good form continued as he was voted into the PFA Team of the
Year the Elegance odar plays with the creativity the magical touch it's a joy to watch but what makes him even better is that while he's a creative playmaker so good on the ball he's not afraid to do the Dirty Work in Midfield as well that's what separates him from a guy like oo the German only looked interested when he was on the ball and in certain games if things weren't going his way or Arsenal weren't playing well as a team he wasn't able to push through that resistance Arsenal is a massive club that everybody would
love to play for the ones that understand that end up Legends like Vieira and HRI odard is on that path he's been the face of the artetta Revolution as the Spaniard tries to bring the Glory Days back to Arsenal to see how artetta has revolutionized Arsenal from a team that was missing out on European football to becoming title contenders you have to check out this video right here
