Martin (15) has to be Martin (23) before that happens.

We have been waiting for eight years. We’ve seen high peaks, deep valleys, damage, loans, hype, rumors and a lot of frustration.

But now Martin degaard is about to reach his full potential. On Sunday, he was the best on the pitch against Leicester, one of several brilliant achievements that have lifted Arsenal to fourth place.

When he was 15 years old, he seemed to be an individual artist. Instead, it has become the cog that keeps the team’s engine running.

He has become the type of playmaker that football needs today.

Danger zone

To understand degaard’s value, one must know how Arsenal have changed collectively. Just as he had lifted the team, the team had lifted him.

As recently as late November, degaard was on the bench. He looked like a failure.

Many think the £30m Arsenal have paid to Real Madrid has been wasted.

But then degaard joined the team and scored three goals in three games. Arsenal have now won nine of their 11 league games and take the lead in the race for fourth place, which earns them a place in the Champions League.

degaard has been given a new role. Previously, he played just behind the strikers, where he easily slotted the ball into the field and then fired off a meaningless support pass.

Now the team’s coach, Mikel Arteta, has switched to a 4-3-3, where degaard is a proper inside runner. This gives him more flexibility. He can pull out on the edge to create an advantage, or walk in the middle to get the ball in space.

At the same time, the gap within the team has increased, something Arteta is constantly working on. This means that Degaard is turning the ball to the right more often. In the end, he was operating in a zone where he was actually dangerous.

The key is not that degaard gets better at finding teammates, but that they get better at finding them.

Useful details

These factors have made degaard more efficient. In recent years, we’ve become accustomed to headlines and video clips of “beautiful detail”: a film here, a loop there.

Details like that are entertaining, but don’t always help the team.

Everything Degaard does now has a purpose.

He’s racked up more goal points than before, but not many: His average this season has gone up to 0.41 per 90 minutes (five goals, three goalscorers), which is OK for his position. Arteta still wants him to score more goals.

Beyond that, many talk about a statistic called “chance created”, where degaard scores high. Just yesterday against Leicester, he “created” six chances.

based on Opta he has created the second most chances in the league in the last 14 games he has started. He also created the second most chances in open play (33 chances) – only beaten by Bruno Fernandes (34).

However, these statistics are rather simplistic. A “chance created” is any pass that goes to the end, not necessarily a stick that opens the defence. If Degaard makes a 20 meter support pass that ends with a shot, a chance is created.

So this can be a bit misleading. But what these statistics say is how involved degaard is in the game.

Pull lever

After all, it’s impossible to score so high on these stats without making lots of passes in the danger zone, and here degaard is one of the best.

She has he most important role in Arsenal’s offensive game. Moreover, the chemistry with the right wing, Bukayo Saka, shines even more, as when Degaard scored the opening goal against Watford a week ago.

But degaard pulled the lever wherever the ball was: right, center, wrong turn, right hand, support, in space.

The statistic that says the most about his contribution is the so-called “successful passes to the penalty area” (excluding set pieces).

It goes without saying that a precise pass into the field creates danger. Here, degaard is at 2.38 deliveries per 90 minutes, according to figures from StatisticsBomb.

No other player in Arsenal’s regular starting line-up is above 1.67.

Luxury players

And this is just a little offensive. The factor that made Degaard a modern playmaker was his contribution when Arsenal didn’t have the ball.

Previously, playmakers were referred to as “luxury players”. They walk around and wait for the ball, before they do anything clever. It’s a bit like Lionel Messi over the years.

But today’s football is too fast and dynamic for a single player to escape running. The best teams have 10 outsiders who work constantly; there is hardly anyone like Messi left. In contrast, degaard is an example of a modern type.

He is a creative player who also runs a lot, pushing to the right and showing where others need to run.

He has become a conductor – even without the ball.

This has given degaard one of the leadership roles in the team. When Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang left Arsenal in January, degaard was mentioned as one of the candidates for the captaincy role.

When the game was suspended against Leicester yesterday, Arteta called one of the players to give instructions. That is degaard.

After the game, Arteta had this to say about the Norwegian:

– He was brilliant today, again, in every part of the game; what he does when we defend ourselves, when we stand tall and low, when we build an attack, and the way he understands and handles a fight.

It says a little about how many phases of the game Degaard influenced.

Martin decides

Another important factor is how stable the surrounding environment is now. If degaard had been a gift to Arteta, the reverse was also true; degaard could hardly have had a coach who understood him better, and who got more out of him.

In many ways, degaard has become a symbol of Arsenal Arteta: creative, agile, hardworking and disciplined.

This collaboration must endure. Arteta has built a youth team around degaard, with attacking team-mates such as Saka (20 years), Gabriel Martinelli (20) and Emile Smith Rowe (21). Permanent goalkeeper and line of defense 24 years or younger.

This time, no borrowing occurred. The last time degaard was in top form was at Real Sociedad, before Real Madrid ended their stay.

This was the first time degaard had received the stability he needed. Now he’s really showing the world what he can do.

And that as master of his own destiny.