When Martin Ødegaard scored league goal number 15 of the season on Sunday, he climbed to the top of a special list. He equaled the record for the number of goals in one season by a central midfielder in the Premier League. He now has more than Steven Gerrard ever managed. More than Frank Lampard and Yaya Touré. More than David Beckham and Paul Scholes. We hear that what Erling Haaland is doing is historic. The same applies to Ødegaard. Best without penalties It’s just not as easy to say. We can easily give Haaland’s achievements historical context, because they can be measured in clear numbers: 35 goals in the Premier League. More than all. Enough. The list that Ødegaard tops is a little more controversial. It does not include penalty kicks. Lampard scored 22 league goals for Chelsea in 2009-10, with 10 shots from the chalk mark. Some would say that a list of top goalscorers without penalties is nonsense; these goals count as much as any other. And you can say that. But penalties say little about the value a player brings to the team, unless the player himself has acquired it. If you poke the ball into the goal from one centimeter, you may have made a good run, or read a situation quickly, as Haaland often does. Everyone on the team can score undisturbed from 11 metres. In 2009–10, goalkeeper Petr Cech could well have climbed up the top scorer list if he had taken Lampard’s penalties. Chelsea’s top scorer in the league in 2020–21 was midfield anchor Jorginho, who took penalties but otherwise managed five finishes throughout the league season. You can also turn it around and say: If Ødegaard had scored the four penalties Arsenal have received in the Premier League this season, he would have had as many goals as Mohamed Salah. Photo: LEE SMITH / Reuters Another debate is who should be included on such a list. Ødegaard is level with Kevin De Bruyne, who scored 15 for Manchester City last season. Wings like Salah are not included. Then some would say that Dele Alli (17 goals in 2016-17) and Matt Le Tissier (19 goals in 1993-94) were midfielders. Again there will be disagreement: Were they not hanging strikers? Regardless, one thing is clear: None of them were pure inside runners like Ødegaard. And the 15 goals can’t be taken away from him. New level Ødegaard has scored these goals in many ways. He has thundered in long shots, like Gerrard; screwed the ball into the corner, like Beckham; ran into the box, like Lampard. All figures show that he has become more dangerous. He shoots more often. He shoots better. In fact, he is one of the players in the league who has been most effective with the chances he has been given. The goals have meant something. Nine times Ødegaard has scored Arsenal’s first or second goal in the match. Photo: BEN STANSALL / AFP It’s easy to forget that he was once “Martin (15)”, the boy from Godset, the sensation from Norway, with beautiful feints and pirouettes. And who then went to Real Madrid, where some wrote him off as a lost talent who barely threatened the goal. “Nice details” were not enough. Even when he was on loan at Real Sociedad in 2019-20, he scored just four goals in 31 league appearances. And Ødegaard got to hear it. – Goals and assists are what you are measured on in my position, and even more the way football has become now. You can play as well as you want, but if you don’t score or assist, no one recognizes you in the same way, he told news last year. Photo: ANDREA COMAS / Reuters Fortunately, hard work works. Ødegaard has examined video clips and intercepted shots. Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta has insisted that he needs to get into the box more often. Now Ødegaard has a role where he is free to storm into the field. Few indoor runners have this much freedom. These factors have lifted him to a new level. He has more than doubled the number of goals in the league this season, without losing his qualities as a playmaker, leader and rough worker. Very few players in the world have all these qualities. So the question is: Where will this end? Constant development All figures say that Ødegaard will improve. Although his development has exploded this season, progress has been ongoing ever since he joined Arsenal in 2021. He is behind more and more goals, chances and shots. He elevates the team, and the team elevates him. The talents around him – Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli – are also improving. This opens up the possibility that Ødegaard can follow up on these figures next season. Then we will know if Arsenal continue to fight for the title, or if this season is a very special adventure à la Leicester in 2015-16, where everything was right at once. Regardless, Ødegaard shows that those who asked for patience when he was 15 were right. He had plenty of time. A lot could still happen. Nine years later, Martin (24) is the most dangerous midfielder in the world’s most popular league. Even without Norwegian glasses, this is quite special.
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That’s how good Martin (24) is – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
