Martin Odegaard was Arsenal’s second choice target in January after this Barcelona starlet

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There’s been a lot of excitement about Martin Odegaard’s arrival at Arsenal but it’s still too early to tell if he’ll be a success or not.

If he shows the form he produced at Real Sociedad then it’s likely there will even be calls to keep him on a permanent basis, but it turns out he wasn’t Arsenal’s first choice target in January.

A report from ESPN has picked up on some comments from Fabrizio Romano in one of his recent podcasts, and it sounds like it was actually Barcelona starlet Riqui Puig that Mikel Arteta wanted.

The problem with that deal is Arsenal also wanted an option to buy Puig after the deal and it led to a breakdown in negotiations, so they had to move on to other targets instead.

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It’s an interesting one because Puig is clearly very talented and he looks good when he actually gets to play, but he’s not really had a proper run of starts to prove himself at the Nou Camp.

He’s also pretty slight in a physical sense so the Premier League could’ve been a struggle for him if other teams decided to target him, while Odegaard’s form at Sociedad probably made him the safer option too.

The fact that Barca weren’t willing to part ways with Puig should be good news for their fans as it suggests he’s still a key part of their future, but it’s a situation that Arsenal should keep an eye on if he’s still not playing regularly by the summer.

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