Martin Odegaard's loan move to Arsenal is reportedly close to being agreed after the midfielder ruled out joining Real Sociedad and Ajax.
The 22-year-old is desperate for more game time after he was left out of Real Madrid's squad when they suffered an embarrassing Copa del Rey defeat at minnows Alcoyano on Wednesday.
This will be the Norwegian's fourth loan spell away from the Bernabeu after joining the club as a 16-year-old in 2017.
The midfielder had a successful spell at Real Sociedad last season, contributing seven goals and nine assists in all competitions.
Sociedad were in the running to secure his services again but, according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, Odegaard chose Arsenal over returning to Sociedad.
The youngster also reportedly decided against joining Ajax.
The deal is said to be close with the midfielder pushing to join Arsenal in the coming hours after the Gunners and Real continued to negotiate overnight.
Arsenal's technical director Edu began talks last week, football.london reported on Friday, and convinced Odegaard to make the move to England after speaking with his father Hans and agent Bjorn Tore Kvarme
The report claims that the six-month loan deal is not expected to include an option to buy and is similar to the deal they have for Dani Ceballos – who is also on loan from Real.
Real have given Odegaard the green light to leave for the remainder of the season and, according to ESPN, he was given permission to skip training on Friday.
The LaLiga club have a good relationship with Arsenal after taking Dani Ceballos on loan with the midfielder also said to have helped encourage Odegaard to make the move in order to get the chance to play.
Talking to EFE, Ceballos added: 'I can tell you what happened to me at Madrid. I don't know exactly what will happen with Martin Odegaard, but it is obvious that any player who wants to succeed at Madrid is going to grab the opportunity he has.'
Odegaard has made just nine appearances for Los Blancos this season, featuring in seven LaLiga matches and two Champions League games so far.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com