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Aron Wright - August 4, 2025
This summer, Arsenal bought Christian Norgaard from Premier League rivals Brentford for a fee that could rise to £12 million.
He joins Mikel Arteta’s side in the same transfer window where Thomas Partey and Jorginho left the club. He’ll be competing for a starting role alongside new signing Martin Zubimendi, who joined Arsenal from Real Sociedad for a reported £51 million.
As such, here at LeagueLane, we take a look at what the Danish player will bring to the Arsenal squad and why the Gunners wanted to bring the 31-year-old to the club. Plus, you can check out Arsenal specific markets on these UK football betting sites.
Here are four elements of his game where he impressed under Thomas Frank at Brentford in recent seasons:
Arsenal have been a huge threat from set-pieces in the Premier League in recent seasons. The Gunners will be adding another prolific aerial threat to their armoury with the signing of Norgaard.
During the 2024/25 Premier League season, nobody had more shots from set-pieces than Norgaard’s seven. That shows the midfielder is an expert at timing his runs and knowing where the first ball, or any resulting loose balls, will land.
With his league best seven shots from set-pieces, he scored five goals last season. In fact, since he arrived in the Premier League in 2021, Norgaard has ranked third highest on expected goals from set-pieces. Only Fabian Schar and Arsenal’s own Gabriel have ranked higher.
Therefore, opposition teams will have every right to be even more worried when Arsenal have a corner or a free kick in a dangerous area. Their aerial threat has been added to and is certainly an upgrade on the departing Thomas Partey and Jorginho.
With Declan Rice moving forward to play more of a box-to-box role in Arsenal’s midfield in the past season or two, Norgaard is expected to play the more defensive role behind Rice and Odegaard, should he be picked ahead of Zubimendi.
Despite being past 30, Norgaard ranked 17th in the Premier League for distance covered last season. That athleticism is a big upgrade on Thomas Partey who ranked 57th in the same category, despite only playing 30 minutes fewer than Arsenal’s new signing.
Norgaard ran an average of 11.4km per match which works out as 1km further than Partey and 0.5km more than Jorginho per 90 minutes in the Premier League last season.
Of course, it’s important to recognise that the former played for a team who averaged less possession than the two other players. But his greater ability to get around the park will no doubt improve Arsenal’s chances of success in matches.
It’s not just the running stats where Norgaard impresses as he ranked joint-second for the most interceptions in the league last season with 49, only Liverpool’s Ryan Gravenberch ranked higher with 60.
The impressive stats continue as Norgaard again ranked second in the league for possessions won in the middle third with 112, only Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo ranked higher with 132.
Furthermore, only Caicedo and Aston Villa’s Youri Tielemans ranked higher for a better tackle success rate than Norgaard.
What all this shows that Arsenal’s new signing will bring a lot of quality when they’re defending. Brentford were out of possession a lot more than Arsenal will be this season, but those moments the Gunners don’t have the ball, Norgaard will be there to pressurise the opposition and be ready to win the ball back.
One area that Norgaard might have to improve is his passing accuracy. His completion rate of 82.71% is a bit below Partey and Jorginho who scored 88.64% and 86.89% respectively.
However, that success rate was because Norgaard was being asked to play more long passes at Brentford than he will at Arsenal.
Norgaard’s ability to pass between the lines was better than Partey and Jorginho though, and that should excite Martin Odegaard who will be able to receive the ball more often and quicker than before, allowing him more space and time to operate in.
All these stats, plus his Premier League experience, might make him push Zubimendi close for that starting role in midfield. In fact, he might be playing a lot more than fans currently might expect him to. He’s brilliant off the ball and his passing stats will improve when playing for a team that will ask him to recycle possession with shorter passes, as opposed to the long contestable balls he was asked to play under Thomas Frank.
As such, he’ll add a lot of quality to the Arsenal midfield and the stats show he’s definitely an upgrade on Partey and Jorginho. Arteta and Arsenal fans should be very excited to have Norgaard in their squad.
