The last four to five years have seen Arsenal assemble a fantastically talented team.
When fully fit, we have seen Mikel Arteta's side run Manchester City incredibly close for the Premier League title, and even now, amid an injury crisis, they are all but through to the Champions League quarter-finals.
However, even though Tuesday night's demolition of PSV Eindhoven was spectacular, some of the team's stars have underperformed this year, like Martin Odegaard.
martin-odegaard-arsenal-champions-league
The Norwegian international has not been able to match the standards he set last season, and one of his teammates who was signed for less than him is now worth considerably more.
Odegaard's disappointing season
So, the first thing to say is that the brace Odegaard scored on Tuesday has helped to make his numbers look a bit better this season, but one brilliant game a campaign does not make.
Martin Odegaard looks dejected for Arsenal
Moreover, this is the same player who won his second successive Player of the Year Award from the fans last season, so to go from that to having questions raised about your future in the team in the space of a year is somewhat of a concern.
For example, by the end of last year, the Drammen-born maestro had racked up 11 goals and 11 assists in 48 appearances, which comes to an average of a goal involvement every 2.18 games.
Odegard's recent seasons
Season
Appearances
Minutes
Goals
Assists
Goal Involvements per Match
Minutes per Goal Involvement
All Stats via Transfermarkt
This season, however, the former Real Madrid wonderkid has only scored five goals and provided seven assists in 29 appearances, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 2.41 games.
Another indication of his drop in form is that he's already been substituted off 15 times this season, whereas he was only taken off 11 times across all of last year.
Martin-Odegaard-Arsenal-FA-Cup
In all, it's not been a brilliant year for Odegaard, and according to the CIES Football Observatory, he is now worth €88.6m, which converts to about £74m, which is millions less than one of his teammates who signed for even less than he was.
The Arsenal star worth millions more than Odegaard
The good news is that even though the team have not had the best of campaigns this year, there are several players who are worth enormous sums of money, such as William Saliba.
Saliba-Isak-Arsenal-Newcastle
The Frenchman was signed by Arteta's predecessor, Unai Emery, for around £27m in the summer of 2019, and following three back-to-back loan spells in his home country, made his competitive debut for the club on the opening day of the 22/23 Premier League season.
Amazingly, the future superstar was named the Man of the Match at full-time and was almost instantly one of the manager's most important players.
William Saliba's Arsenal Career
Competition
Premier League
FA Cup
League Cup
Champions League
Europa League
Community Shield
All Stats via Transfermarkt
In fact, it was following his injury against Sporting CP in March 2023 that the North Londoners title charge began to come apart.
Since then, the 6 foot 4 "monster," as dubbed by talent scout Jacek Kulig, has made 120 appearances for the Gunners, in which he's scored seven goals, provided two assists and become indispensable to Arteta.
Unsurprisingly then, his valuation has skyrocketed, with the CIES Football Observatory pricing him at €101.8m, which is about £86m.
In other words, the Bondy-born titan has seen his value rise by an astounding 214% since he joined the club almost six years ago and is now worth £12m more than his captain.
Arsenal's William Saliba applauds fans after the match
Ultimately, Odegaard is a quality player and will likely be back to something like his best next season, but we think it might take a long time for his price tag to surpass Saliba's - if it ever will.
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