With Real Madrid and Arsenal clashing in the Champions League this evening, it was inevitable someone would have something to say about Martin Odegaard.
And that someone is AS, who look at the Arsenal star today and his ill-fated time in Madrid, detailing where it went wrong for the Norwegian in Spain.
Odegaard famously signed for Madrid when he was just 16 years old in a deal that ‘raised ethical questions’, moved huge amounts of money and proved a nightmare for Real Madrid managers.
The midfielder was supposed to be the shining light for Madrid but ultimately created ‘schism’ at the Spanish club before being shipped off to Arsenal. Now he’s the great danger for the Gunners as they meet in the Champions League.
AS explain that working with Odegaard proved to be ‘more than difficult’ for Madrid, who beat the likes of Arsenal and Bayern Munich to the 16-year-old, paying €2.8m to get him in 2015.
This included a huge contract for a teenager valued at €10.5m gross for three seasons, something that caused problems in Madrid’s Castilla set up where the rest of the players earned considerably less.
Odegaard also refused to socialise with them, preferring to play tennis or go to McDonald’s in Madrid than be with the other youth players. He ‘did not consider himself one of them’ say the newspaper.
Then came a ‘marketing’ debut under Carlo Ancelotti, arranged by Florentino Perez, which the Italian later admitted he did not want or sanction. That made him the youngest Madrid debutant in their history at the time.
It was a similar story for Rafa Benitez before things fell apart under Zinedine Zidane, under whom the midfielder ended up as an ‘absolute substitute’. He demanded a place when Ancelotti then returned but was not given it.
Instead, Arsenal came and after a successful loan spell he was sold for €40m. He’s been shining at the Emirates ever since, although AS say this is because the ‘excellence and demand’ are not as high as they are Real Madrid.
Now Odegaard returns as their enemy, the man they need to keep quiet if they’re to qualify, and a symbol of a failed experiment that cost them in more ways than one.
