Good riddance! Flop Arsenal sold had to apologise after horrific debut

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Tom Weber | Writer

Everton manager David Moyes has revealed that former Arsenal midfielder Christian Norgaard was compelled to apologise for his horrific debut against Chelsea last week.

The Denmark international joined the Toffees after a disappointing season in North London. Norgaard looked a shrewd pick-up by Arsenal when they snatched him from Brentford for €12 million in 2025, but he hardly featured.

Norgaard played just over 1,000 minutes in his sole season with the Gunners, with most of his minutes coming in the domestic cups. He clocked just 101 minutes across seven appearances in the Premier League and became something of a forgotten man.

Although he received a Premier League winners' medal, his lack of action was enough to convince him to quit Arsenal after just one season. He joined Everton for €8.2m in the summer in hopes of recapturing his Brentford form.

However, he arrived on Merseyside with a groin injury he only recently recovered from. He was an unused substitute against Hull City two weeks ago and finally made his debut last weekend against Chelsea - and it was a debut to remember.

Norgaard apologises

Norgaard entered the pitch to general astonishment from the Everton supporters, who expected manager Moyes to make a more attacking substitution. After all, they were trailing 1-0 at the time.

Although the 32-year-old only came on in the 85th minute, there was still plenty of time left in the game due to the nasty collision between Jarrad Branthwaite and Emiliano Martinez, which hospitalised the latter and caused a lengthy delay.

In his cameo, Norgaard managed to pick up a yellow card, lost possession numerous times and almost caused a Chelsea goal. The game ultimately finished 2-0, with Pedro Neto bagging his second goal of the match in the 90th minute.

With the Toffees facing Norgaard's former club Arsenal on Saturday, Moyes was naturally asked about the Dane's debut and revealed that the midfielder felt compelled to apologise for his dreadful performance.

"There was actually part of me last week that was half considering starting him - and I’m glad I didn’t," Moyes said. "I saw bits in training which made me think he was getting ready, but maybe also things just went wrong.

"When we brought him on, we realised he was a bit further away than we hoped, but we weren’t expecting him to be fully fit until the next international break, if we are being honest, as he’s had no real pre-season.

"Christian was the first one to come to me and say he was sorry about it, and he’s realised he’s a bit further away than we all thought."

It is fair to say that Norgaard is unlikely to play against Arsenal on Saturday.

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