With Martin Odegaard on the verge of joining Arsenal on a permanent basis, we’re sure the criticisms will be forthcoming in Spain.
The Norwegian was supposed to be the star of the future at Real Madrid, but that simply hasn’t happened, with a lack of playing time pushing him away from the club.
That’s something Arsenal are willing to offer him after his loan spell last season, so his future will now be at the Emirates rather than the Bernabeu.
The analysis of why that’s happened has already begun, with many already putting the blame fully on the player.
Earlier this week, we already saw Odegaard being accused of a lack of ambition for wanting the move to Arsenal rather than fighting for his place in Madrid.
That’s an opinion we’re sure we’ll see shared plenty more times in the coming weeks and the first to jump on the bandwagon is journalist Tomás Roncero.
He recently appeared on El Larguero and shared some background details on the impending move, taking a dig at Odegaard in the process.
“Last year, Zidane put him in the starting line-up for the first two games of LaLiga, the boy didn’t respond, and Zidane, who was very didactic in that respect, went from starting him to not putting him in the starting line-up,” he said.
“Many think that Zidane is going too far, he doesn’t give the boy a chance, whatever you want, but in January he doesn’t tell him that he’d better find a team, he’s the one who says: ‘Coach, I’m going to Arsenal because I want to play and I don’t want to be here as a substitute at Real Madrid’.
“Zidane tells him that he is going to play because the season is very long and there are injuries, and he says: ‘No, coach, I want to play as a starter, and Arsenal are offering me that’.
“I know that Ancelotti told him: ‘Martin, if you have patience you can play, but I can’t guarantee you the starting line-up because there are Modric, Kroos, Casemiro, Valverde.
“He’s a guy who wants comfort. Real Sociedad worked for him, and so did Arsenal.”
