Brentford have lost one key man in Thomas Frank to Tottenham Hotspur this summer, and the Bees will soon witness another fundamental figure depart for the red half of North London.
Indeed, a deal has apparently been agreed to take Danish midfielder Christian Norgaard to Arsenal, where the 31-year-old will help fill the number six voids left by Jorginho and Thomas Partey's exits.
Confirmation of Martin Zubimendi's switch from Real Sociedad should also come in due course, and the expectation is that the Spaniard will play the Partey role, while Norgaard becomes the 'new Jorginho', playing second fiddle to his younger counterpart.
Norgaard's imminent transfer - which is said to be worth an initial £10m potentially rising to £15m - has triggered plenty of heated debates online, where many Gooners have questioned whether his arrival truly represents an improvement on Arsenal's former midfield options.
We have attempted to answer some of those burning questions, as here, Sports Mole provides an in-depth statistical comparison of Norgaard, Partey, Zubimendi, Jorginho and Sevilla's Lucien Agoume, whom the Gunners were also linked with.
All data is courtesy of FBRef from the 2024-25 league season.
Norgaard comparison: Attacking/shooting
Arsenal's Thomas Partey pictured on April 8, 2025
Before we delve into the deeper stuff, it is important to note that all of Partey, Zubimendi, Norgaard and Agoume played between 2,000 and 3,000 minutes in the last league campaign, whereas Jorginho was only on the field for a little over 10 hours in the English top flight.
The Italian was the only member of the quintet who did not find the back of the net in league action in 2024-25, but Norgaard's five Premier League efforts means he tops the charts, bagging one more strike than his closest challenger Partey.
The Dane placing first in the goalscoring column is not a major surprise given he attempted far more shots than any of the other players on this list - 39 in total - while Partey fired 26, Zubimendi 24 and Agoume just 10.
Fifteen of Norgaard's attempts were on target too, giving him a shots to shots-on-target ratio of 38.5% - also the top mark on the list - although his tally of 0.13 goals per shot is slightly down on Partey's 0.15.
The Ghanaian - renowned for an astounding long-range attempt or two during his time in North London - also tended to take on shots further away from goal; his average shot distance sits at 19.2 yards, while Norgaard sat a bit closer in at 14.3.
The Scandinavian will certainly not be judged on his attacking metrics in North London, though, and he should anticipate having slightly less influence in the final third while Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard try to weave their magic.
Norgaard comparison: Playmaking
Lucien Agoume of Sevilla on November 19, 2024
As well as making the net bulge more times than the other four in league action last season, Norgaard's four assists is also more than any of Agoume (3), Partey (2), Zubimendi (1) and Jorginho (0).
The soon-to-be former Brentford captain also over-performed his Expected Assisted Goals (xAG) significantly, setting up four strikes from a 1.3 xAG, although that also says a lot about his Bees teammates' clinical nature in front of goal.
Norgaard's 58 shot-creating actions over the course of the season were also significantly more than Zubimendi's 46, but Agoume managed 60 for Sevilla and Partey 62 for Arsenal, and the La Liga-based Frenchman excels in this particular niche.
Indeed, Agoume registered an average of 2.55 shot-creating actions per 90 minutes - by far the most in this five-man comparison - and of his 60 shot-creating actions, 57 came from a live ball pass.
Meanwhile, 48 of Norgaard's 58 SCA's came from an open-play pass, although an unrivalled seven came from a shot attempt, highlighting his teammates' awareness to follow up after a save or block.
The ex-Fiorentina man and Partey share top spot when it comes to goal-creating actions, managing 13 over the course of the Premier League campaign, whereas Zubimendi registered six and Agoume five.
However, GCA statistics also give a better indication of a team's overall ruthlessness than SCA numbers, and while Norgaard can evidently help out in the final third, it would have been intriguing to see the impact of Agoume on this Arsenal side.
Norgaard comparison: Passing/possession
Real Sociedad's Martin Zubimendi celebrates after scoring on August 18, 2024
Representing an Arsenal team that like to dominate possession, Partey is in a party of his own when it comes to attempted and completed passes, registering 1,920 and 1,678 respectively in the 2024-25 Premier League.
Zubimendi is a not-so-close second with 1,482 completed from 1,772 attempted, whereas Norgaard - whose Brentford side were perfectly content without the ball for long periods - found a teammate 1,164 times from 1,427 attempts.
The Denmark international's completion rate of 81.6% is far from disastrous, but Partey and Jorginho are a class above with 87.4% and 86.7% respectively, while Zubimendi's ratio sits at 83.6%.
Furthermore, Norgaard's 87.4% success rate from short passes is the worst of the five - Partey, Jorginho and Agoume all registered over 90% - and when it comes to progression, he could not compete with Partey and Zubimendi.
Norgaard managed a total of 154 progressive passes over the course of the 2024-25 Premier League campaign, whereas Partey registered 185 and Zubimendi 195 in La Liga; the latter also made an unrivalled 172 passes into the final third.
Zubimendi's total of 38 progressive carries is also the best of its kind out of the five - Norgaard only amassed 14 - while Agoume's 27 key passes is unmatched by any of Partey, Zubimendi, Jorginho or Norgaard, the latter of whom registered 18.
Furthermore, all of Partey, Zubimendi and Agoume were more willing to take on an opponent, and usually more successful when they did; the Sevilla man completed 22 take-ons from 30 attempts for a 73.3% success rate, whereas Norgaard only dribbled past an opponent seven times from 14 tries.
Norgaard comparison: Defending
Brentford's Christian Norgaard celebrates on March 15, 2025
With Rice having licence to bomb forward in the left eight role, Norgaard can expect to do a lot of the dirty work when he plays, and the Dane won 49 tackles from 79 attempts in the last top-flight season.
Those numbers are slightly down on leader Partey, who attempted 89 challenges and won 53 of them, and the bulk of his tackles came in the defensive third, whereas the Ghana man contested more duels in the middle and final thirds; Arsenal and Brentford's respective styles of play can partially explain those numbers.
As Frank's Bees had no issue sitting deep and letting the other team control possession at times, Norgaard unsurprisingly attempted to and successfully tackled more dribblers than the other four players on this list, although his 59.3% success rate is inferior to Agoume's 69.2%, Zubimendi's 63.6% and Partey's 60.5%.
The Dane inevitably also made the most blocks, interceptions and recoveries out of the five, while also incurring the most on-field punishments, eight yellow cards and one red.
Norgaard's 44 fouls conceded are not too dissimilar to any of Agoume, Zubimendi or Partey, and he also won 28 free kicks of his own; interestingly, Agoume was only brought down illegally on a mere six occasions.
Norgaard's 6ft 1in frame also helps him off the ground to a degree, as he won 62% of his aerial battles in last season's top division, a better ratio than Partey, Agoume and Jorginho but slightly down on Zubimendi's 62.4%.
Concerns over how the Dane will slot into Arsenal's system are warranted given he is transitioning to a more possession-heavy team, but a midfielder with his defensive nous and eye for goal could prove highly useful in the closing stages of matches when Zubimendi begins to tire.
> Click here to see which shirt numbers Norgaard could take at Arsenal
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