Arsenal star leaves club in sudden move just minutes after Real Betis loss

An Arsenal player signed for another Premier League club minutes after the Gunners’ pre-season friendly loss against Real Betis.

Mikel Arteta’s side put in a poor performance in front of 50,000 fans at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, with strikes from Rodrigo Riquelme, Nelson Deossa and ex-West Ham midfielder Pablo Fornals cancelling out Piero Hincapie’s goal to hand the La Liga outfit a 3-1 victory.

After the match, the Arsenal boss said his players were “fuming” with their lacklustre performance, which was marred by several defensive errors.

Despite first-team players Kai Havertz, Viktor Gyokeres, Riccardo Calafiori and new signing Christos Tzolis all featuring, the Premier League champions were without Declan Rice, Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke, Bukayo Saka, Mikel Merino and David Raya, who are still on leave following the World Cup, while captain Martin Odegaard has taken part in individual training.

Speaking after the match, Arteta explained how he hoped the defeat would motivate the Gunners to perform better in their upcoming friendlies against Borussia Dortmund and Como before they take on Manchester City in the Community Shield on August 16.

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"Well, the important part is to win it and we didn't manage to win it, so disappointed obviously for the result," Arteta said.

"It's true we used 25 players, so you need to give a bit of context to the game.

"In the first half, with more starters, two very different things: how we played and how we competed, because we had some fantastic moments in the time we played.

"The way we competed, especially in and around our box, in a number of standards that we are used to, so there are things to improve obviously, some positives to take from the game and then a bad result sometimes is good to create even more fire in the belly."

Arsenal star departs minutes after Betis clash

Meanwhile, minutes after the Betis clash, it was announced that midfielder Christian Norgaard had joined Everton, exiting the Gunners after just one season.

The 32-year-old Denmark international has joined the Toffees for a reported £7 million just one year on from signing for Arsenal from Brentford for £15 million.

In total, the Dane made 20 appearances for the North Londoners, with seven coming in the Premier League.

Norgaard becomes Everton’s fourth signing of the summer after Tyrique George, Hayden Hackney and Merlin Rohl also joined the Merseyside club.

Explaining the reasons behind his decision to move, Norgaard told Everton TV: “There were many factors to it. I felt I needed a change and to play a bigger football role. When I spoke to David Moyes and others at the Club involved in the transfer, I heard about the whole project and I was very intrigued. Coming here just makes that feeling even stronger.

“Also, my past experience of playing against Everton: the whole atmosphere, the fans, is something I really look forward to experiencing as an Everton player. It’s a big, big honour for me, and it's something I'll do my very best, not only on game days, but in general, to remember how much it means for people who support this club. It will be my mindset to represent the Club in the best possible way.

“I can't wait to experience the atmosphere as an Everton player. Goodison was amazing. I just remember the ground was shaking – literally shaking. Then we came to the new stadium last year and I was so surprised because you often see clubs lose that intimacy and atmosphere [at a new stadium]. But I was so overwhelmed by how good the atmosphere was as well. So I can see that the soul from Goodison has been brought to the new stadium.”

Arsenal kick off their Premier League campaign at home against Coventry City on August 21.