Arsenal in talks to sign Odegaard and 4 other latest big stories you might've missed

1. Arsenal in talks to sign Martin Odegaard from Real Madrid

• The Gunners are looking to help Emile Smith Rowe carry the creativity burden.
• Odegaard's departure on loan from Real Madrid has been greenlighted by Zinedine Zidane due to midfielder's scant playing time.
• Edu instigated the talks and the two clubs enjoy a good relationship with Dani Ceballos on loan in North London.
• However, Real Sociedad, where Odegaard spent the last season, are strong contenders to sign him too.

2. Fans bid Sokratis farewell

• The Greek centre-back's deal was terminated by mutual consent yesterday and he's now a free agent.
• Sokratis sent a classy farewell message to the club, thanking everyone for the experience, including the fans.
• Gunners' faithful responded in kind, thanking Sokratis for the efforts and wishing him all the best in his next chapter.

3. Arteta targets incomings after clearing the decks

• The Gunners let Sokratis and Mesut Ozil leave permanently, while William Saliba and Sead Kolasinac have been loaned out until the end of the season.
• Arteta revealed this part of the process is now done with - and Arsenal will target new signings.
• Among those is possibly a left-back - after Mik confessed the Gunners don't have natural cover for Kieran Tierney.
• Oddly, Reiss Nelson and Joe Willock were not mentioned as potential outgoings on loan, even though both rarely feature for the first team.

4. Lucas Torreira's loan might be cut short

• The Uruguayan barely plays for Atletico Madrid, where he's been sent on loan in October.
• Edu looks unhappy with that and fired a warning shot at Los Rojiblancos, threatening to pull the plug on the deal.
• Rumour has it that the Gunners will entertain permanent offers for Lucas - Arteta's coaching team urge the Spaniard to reconsider cutting ties with Torreira.

5. Shkodran Mustafi is on the brink of leaving the club this January

• The German only made 3 substitute appearances in the league this season and his contract runs out in the summer.
• It doesn't look like an extension is happening, which is probably the way it should be with the amount of CBs at Arsenal.
• Fabrizio Romano reports that Mustafi might be gone this window already if an offer comes in.
• However, so far there has been little concrete interest - only Genoa showed signs of life but their interest faded away.

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