Real Madrid love to buy the best players of the Premier League. They signed the competition’s poster boy Gareth Bale in 2013 and signed Eden Hazard in 2019.
Martin Odegaard’s early candidacy for player of the season represents a major change in role.
Nobody is playing better than Arsenal’s Norway midfielder and he is a gift-wrapped Madrid for the Gunners in 2021, who are reluctant to give up on the player they signed as a 16-year-old from Stromsgodset in 2015.
Captain Martin Odegaard, formerly of Real Madrid, is a huge asset to Arsenal’s title challenge
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said of his captain and joint top-scorer: ‘He came through a very specific development process and now he is in a place where he is a very important player.’
He knows Odegaard, now 24, has to mature as a player in situations most youngsters aren’t exposed to.
Odegaard, who led Arsenal into Tuesday night’s meeting with third-placed Newcastle looking more than ever like the player Madrid believed he would be, was sent out in front of the flashbulbs at Real’s Valdebebas training ground for a grand performance eight years ago.
His father, Hans Erik, has been given a role in the club’s youth academy and there are assurances that Martin will be fast-tracked into the first team. He regularly attends senior training sessions despite playing for the B team and is guaranteed a place on the pre-season tour.
Mikel Arteta hailed his captain as ‘a very important player’ for the Gunners during their excellent run
Such apparent benefits have led to skepticism and even resentment. Zinedine Zidane, who coached the B team, didn’t think too much of the special treatment, especially since his son Enzo was on the same side playing in the same position.
And Carlo Ancelotti, who was persuaded to give Odegaard his first-team debut to make him the club’s youngest player at 16 years and 157 days, called it a ‘public relations stunt’.
By 2020, Zidane had become first-team coach and his reluctance to play Odegaard pushed him towards a loan move to Arsenal in January 2021, which became permanent six months later. The sale was hailed as good Madrid business – sold for £31million, a profit of £28.5m.
Real Madrid signed Norwegian Odegaard as a 16-year-old, but lost him due to money issues
But Madrid knows there is risk involved. Odegaard went on loan to Real Sociedad in the summer of 2019 and lit up LaLiga with some stunning performances before a tendinitis problem in his right knee slowed him down. A native of San Sebastian, Arteta will know how good Odegaard is for the city’s premier club.
Odegaard’s displays suggested there was more to come and, if Madrid didn’t need the funds at the time, there could be more patience.
But the Covid pandemic has destroyed Real Madrid’s finances to the point where sales are necessary.
Selling veterans like Bale and Marcelo is not possible due to their contracts, so releasing youngsters who can command a fee is the only alternative.
It is Arsenal who benefit from his magical performances, goals and assists in their season
Madrid also sold Achraf Hakimi to Inter Milan for £36m in the same period and he became best friends with Kylian Mbappe at Paris Saint-Germain and was a star for Morocco at the World Cup in Qatar.
The sale of Odegaard is still hurting Madrid. They have Aurelien Tchouameni and Fede Valverde to replace Toni Kroos and Luka Modric in midfield and want Jude Bellingham this summer. But Odegaard represents a move away from big transfer fees.
He is the prototype of a policy to buy teenagers bound for greatness. Endrick, the 16-year-old Brazilian signed last month from Palmeiras for an initial fee of around £31m, is the latest, and Odegaard the first.
Now it is Arsenal reaping the rewards and Arteta believes this is just the beginning.
Arteta believes this is ‘just the beginning’ for his captain, suggesting he can improve his game
‘Physically, he can still improve in many areas. The way he can drive with the ball and eliminate people, his crossing, his passing range, can still get better,’ he said.
‘His attitude, his willingness to learn and his application have always been incredible. And when you have those ingredients good things usually happen.’
These beautiful things do not go unnoticed in Madrid. Arsenal’s 4-2 win at Brighton on Saturday was live on pay-per-view in Spain and commentators hailed Odegaard’s penalty-box drag-back nutmeg as the ‘play of the year’.
The praise kept coming as he scored Arsenal’s second and set up the fourth with a long pass for Gabriel Martinelli to score. The headline in Diario AS the next day summed things up: ‘Odegaard is at his Premier League feet.’
