Edu negotiation of key clause in £35m deal is Arsenal's smartest transfer since Santi Cazorla

Edu’s time at Arsenal since joining in 2019 has been heavily questioned due to the failure at times to negotiate the best deals for players joining and leaving the club. The Gunners have faced back-to-back eight place finishes with the Brazilian taking plenty of the blame.

However, the summer of 2021 certainly increased the his popularity within the fan base. The recruitment ahead of the current campaign was excellent and has seen the Gunners push for a place in the Champions League.

Martin Odegaard joined the club for a £35m fee from Real Madrid in the summer and has proven to be a genuine bargain. Edu certainly deserves credit for this.

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However, it is not just the deal itself that Edu deserves plaudits but it’s the fact he was able to leave out a potential buy-back clause in his contract. This is arguably his smartest piece of negotiation since joining the club.

According to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, the Gunners and Real Madrid did not agree to a buy-back clause in Odegaard’s move, meaning Los Blancos cannot re-sign him for a cut-price deal. Something they are well-known for doing.

The Madrid side are in fact notorious for including buy-back clauses in players they have sold in the past, as they have done with players such as Sergio Reguilon who is currently playing for Spurs, and Alvaro Morata who previously played for Chelsea.

After failing to break into the squad as a 16-year-old, Odegaard featured mostly for the Real Madrid Castilla team before multiple loans to the Dutch league for two seasons. This