Things are looking rosy in the red half of north London this season.
Arsenal picked themselves up after last year's title race heartbreak and have fought their way to the top of the Premier League table.
Mikel Arteta's side have also booked their place in the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in 14 years following their dramatic win over Porto on Tuesday night.
The club's recent success has been built off of signing underrated talents in the transfer market, including one whose weekly wage has risen by £125k.
Martin Odegaard's salary rise at Arsenal
The man in question is Arsenal and Norway captain Martin Odegaard.
The Drammen-born maestro first joined the Gunners on a six-month loan deal from Real Madrid in January 2021, at a time when fans weren't sure if he'd be the next big thing or just another failed wonderkid, hyped up by the media.
Unfortunately, the loan didn't really clear that up for fans. While undeniably talented, with brilliant ball control and wonderfully timed passes, the Real man finished the campaign with just two goals and two assists in 20 appearances.
However, Arteta and Edu had seen enough, so the club signed the then-22-year-old dynamo for just £34m, which two and a half years later looks like daylight robbery.
The club was so confident in the 5-foot-10 gem's ability and potential that they offered him a £115k-per-week contract right off the bat. While it was a lot of money for a midfielder of his age, he's since repaid the club tenfold.
In his first year after signing the deal, he returned seven goals and five assists in 40 appearances, but in his second year at the Emirates, he exploded and scored 15 goals and provided eight assists in just 45 games.
By this point, the "sensational" star, as dubbed by Jamie Carragher, was already the club captain, and with his output continuing to improve, the Londoners tied him down to a new deal, a deal that saw his wages rise by £125k-per-week, up to £240k-per-week.
Martin Odegaard's season in numbers
Arsenal have had a rotten run of luck in recent years, with star players earning a bumper raise and then falling off the face of a cliff – Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang spring to mind – but this time, it was different.
Now, much like the team as a whole, Odegaard wasn't playing his most free-flowing and aesthetically pleasing football at the start of the campaign, but in the last few months, he has gone up another level and currently has nine goals and eight assists to his name in 36 games.
However, the zenith – thus far – of his Arsenal career came on Tuesday night, when he stood above his teammates and dragged the club through their tie against Porto.
The Norwegian superstar was far and away the Gunners' best outfield player on the night, and while Leandro Trossard scored the goal to level the tie, it was made possible by some truly mesmerising play from the captain.
It was a showing that left an impression on the press, as football.london's Kaya Kaynak awarded the 24-year-old an 8/10 on the night and described his display as 'a real captain's performance on a big night for Arsenal', which was topped off by his ice-cold demeanour as he scored his penalty.
Minutes
120'
Assists
1
Expected Assists
0.32
Touches
56
Key Passes
2
Long Balls (Accurate)
1 (1)
Dribbles (Successful)
3 (2)
Penalties Scored
1
Interceptions
1
Tackles
2
David Raya certainly deserves the acclaim he's received for his brilliant efforts in the penalty shootout, but there can be no doubt that the only reason he was in the position to win the game for the club was thanks to his captain.
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ByJack Salveson HolmesMar 14, 2024
Ultimately, a pay rise of £125k-per-week in such a short space of time might be hard to justify for the majority of players, but Odegaard is not like the majority of players, and if Arsenal do go on to win anything this season, it'll be in large part thanks to him.
