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  "path": "/2026/06/07/mikel-arteta-tipped-sell-arsenal-title-winner-i-know-sounds-mad-28680452/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-07T09:26:26.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
  "tags": [
    "Football",
    "Sport",
    "Arsenal",
    "Arsenal transfer news",
    "Martin Odegaard",
    "Mikel Arteta",
    "Paul Merson",
    "Premier League",
    "Transfer News and Rumours",
    "Patrick Vieira",
    "clinched a long-awaited title last season",
    "Manchester City",
    "Bournemouth",
    "move from Real Madrid",
    "Sign up here",
    "last month’s Champions League final defeat to PSG",
    "The Sports Agents",
    "urged to trigger a move himself earlier in the season by several pundits",
    "ESPN",
    "supports HTML5\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvideo",
    "open to offers for at least four members of their title-winning squad",
    "at least three major signings",
    "check our sport page",
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  ],
  "textContent": "Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta (Picture: Getty)\n\nPaul Merson has raised a ‘mad’ Arsenal transfer theory, claiming Mikel Arteta will ‘probably be thinking’ about selling captain Martin Odegaard.\n\nOdegaard became the first Arsenal captain since Patrick Vieira to lift the Premier League trophy as the Gunners clinched a long-awaited title last season.\n\nIt was Odegaard that immediately called Arteta after Manchester City dropped points at Bournemouth to inform his manager that the title belonged to Arsenal.\n\nOdegaard has been one of Arsenal’s most important players during the Arteta era, making over 200 appearances for the club since his move from Real Madrid.\n\n##  All the World Cup action\n\nGet everything you need to know about the World Cup – England updates, the games to watch and stories you missed – in five minutes, at 1pm, every day. Sign up here.\n\nBut injury issues meant Odegaard was only a bit-part player during Arsenal’s title win, with the 27-year-old Norway international starting less than half of their Premier League games.\n\nDespite his absence, Arteta has repeatedly stressed the importance of Odegaard and started the midfielder in last month’s Champions League final defeat to PSG.\n\nArsenal legend Merson has doubts over Odegaard’s future at the Emirates Stadium, however, and believes he is a player the club could look to sell during the summer transfer window.\n\nArsenal captain Martin Odegaard (Picture: Getty)\n\n‘It’s madness for me to be saying this, but they probably will be thinking about that [selling Martin Odegaard]’, Merson said on The Sports Agents, which is available to watch/listen to now on Global Player, YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.\n\n‘But for me, I still think there’ll be teams queuing round the block for him… When you play in the position that Odegaard plays in, you’re screaming out for pace up front. You have to have pace.’\n\nMerson is not the first to question Odegaard’s future at Arsenal and the Norwegian was in fact urged to trigger a move himself earlier in the season by several pundits.\n\nArsenal legend Paul Merson (Picture: Getty)\n\nAsked how Arteta should use Odegaard going forward, Liverpool legend Steve Nicol said on ESPN: ‘Odegaard might be leaving Arsenal.\n\n‘If you’re Odegaard, the club captain and 18 months ago you were the guy. All of a sudden – and I know he’s had some injuries – but there’s question marks over whether he actually starts because of Eze.\n\n‘And maybe because of the way he’s been playing, someone else might get ahead of him as well. So if you’re Martin Odegaard, do you stick around? I don’t think you do.’\n\nFrank Leboeuf added: ‘I agree, I agree. I’ve always liked Martin Odegaard and the way he plays because he’s very elegant, but he’s not influential anymore.\n\nTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvideo\n\nUp Next\n\nPrevious Page\n\nNext Page\n\n‘He’s there to start the action, to distribute the ball horizontally. But with Eze right now the moves are not the same, he’s more vertical, more influential and he’s going to help [Viktor] Gyokeres too.\n\n‘So it will be a hard time for Odegaard and he will have to make a very good choice, a big choice, at the end of the season.’\n\nArsenal are believed to be open to offers for at least four members of their title-winning squad, with Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard and Ben White possibly leaving.\n\nArteta is also looking to bolster his Arsenal squad with at least three major signings, with his focus another striker and a left-winger.\n\nWhatever happens during the summer transfer window, Merson fully expects Arsenal to once again challenge for the title next season.\n\n‘I’d be shocked if Arsenal went away,’ he added. ‘I just think Arsenal are a proper solid, solid football team.\n\n‘They have solid seven, eight out of 10 players, week in, week out. Across the board, across the squad, players are sevens and eights every week.’\n\n**For more stories like this, check our sport page**.\n\n**Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on**Facebook,** Twitter and Instagram**.\n\nComment now Comments \nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
  "title": "Mikel Arteta tipped to sell Arsenal title winner: ‘I know it sounds mad’"
}