On January 21, 2015, Real Madrid signed Martin Odegaard, the wonder kid from Stromsgodset, for around 3 million euros. Los Blancos announced that he would train with both the club's first team and the reserves, then coached by Zinedine Zidane.
Just 17 years of age, Martin Odegaard has big shoes to fill in as the whole footballing world knows the quick paced football that this youngster is capable of. He was said to improve as time went on but his stats are that of any average youngster. Out of total 34 total appearance for Real Madrid Castilla, Odegaard has managed only one goal for the reserves and out of 26 appearances this season he has only managed 4 assists. Fringe stats right, but you will have to look beyond the stats to believe in his ability. He has been playing for the Norway national team since 2014 and his in game ability can be considered that of a matured attacking midfield player. His coaches have compared his ability to link up link up play to that of David Silva and Lionel Messi. On the contrary, Allen Halilovic, who signed for rivals FC Barcelona on March 2014, played for Barcelona B for a season and was loaned to Sporting de Gijon to build up experience for regular first team football.
Odegaard did become the youngest debutant for Los Merengues on May 23, the final fixture of the 2014-2015 season coming on as a 58th minute substitute for Cristiano Ronaldo in an eventual 7-3 home win over Getafe CF. He showed some promising runs and link up plays with the players and left the Bernabeu asking for more of the youngster. Rafa Benitez included Odegaard for the pre-season games where he started a match against AS Roma.
The strategy that Real Madrid is using against prodigies such as Mayoral, Asenjo and Odegaard is somewhat unfit for their development. The whites had several loan offers for both Mayoral and Odegaard form around Europe but rejected all of them so that Real Madrid Castilla could be promoted to second tier of spanish football. Odegaard was a loan target of Southampton, Everton, Aston Villa, Borussia Monchengladbach and many more where he could have broken into the first team and gained some valuable experience that would ultimately be helpful for developing our squad depth even more. Due to the transfer ban imposed, I hope to see both Martin Odegaard and Borjita Mayoral to make it in the first team and with the potential they've got, I see no obstacle standing in their way.
Just 17 years of age, Martin Odegaard has big shoes to fill in as the whole footballing world knows the quick paced football that this youngster is capable of. He was said to improve as time went on but his stats are that of any average youngster. Out of total 34 total appearance for Real Madrid Castilla, Odegaard has managed only one goal for the reserves and out of 26 appearances this season he has only managed 4 assists. Fringe stats right, but you will have to look beyond the stats to believe in his ability. He has been playing for the Norway national team since 2014 and his in game ability can be considered that of a matured attacking midfield player. His coaches have compared his ability to link up link up play to that of David Silva and Lionel Messi. On the contrary, Allen Halilovic, who signed for rivals FC Barcelona on March 2014, played for Barcelona B for a season and was loaned to Sporting de Gijon to build up experience for regular first team football.
Odegaard did become the youngest debutant for Los Merengues on May 23, the final fixture of the 2014-2015 season coming on as a 58th minute substitute for Cristiano Ronaldo in an eventual 7-3 home win over Getafe CF. He showed some promising runs and link up plays with the players and left the Bernabeu asking for more of the youngster. Rafa Benitez included Odegaard for the pre-season games where he started a match against AS Roma.
The strategy that Real Madrid is using against prodigies such as Mayoral, Asenjo and Odegaard is somewhat unfit for their development. The whites had several loan offers for both Mayoral and Odegaard form around Europe but rejected all of them so that Real Madrid Castilla could be promoted to second tier of spanish football. Odegaard was a loan target of Southampton, Everton, Aston Villa, Borussia Monchengladbach and many more where he could have broken into the first team and gained some valuable experience that would ultimately be helpful for developing our squad depth even more. Due to the transfer ban imposed, I hope to see both Martin Odegaard and Borjita Mayoral to make it in the first team and with the potential they've got, I see no obstacle standing in their way.
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