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The easy thing was to think that it would end up like so many others, being part of the bottomless drawer of youth stars that are lost by the verdicts of professional football. Teenagers bathed in millions of euros and dozens of interested palm trees who believe they have everything when they really have nothing but fame. It was tempting, finally, to imagine such a future for Martin Odegaard , as a broken toy, soon lost in a club in his native Norway.

Reality, however, is far from the topic. It contradicts it in fact. The 16-year-old boy that Real Madrid signed as the star of tomorrow in 2015 is today one of the best players in the beginning of LaLiga. According to Sofascore , a portal that makes a statistical analysis of each player, Odegaard is the 12th best player of the season, the third most successful races and also the third with more key passes. Numbers that reflect his leadership, shared with Oyarzabal , in Real Sociedad, one of the teams with the best football this season.

«He is used to being the center of attention since he signed for Real Madrid, he is a boy who knows what he wants and what it costs to get it. He is a player who has a lot of talent but also works everything else. It is an example », says the coach of the Real, Imanol Alguacil , who has just been named, with total merit, LaPiga MVP in September, thanks to his pass recital and his mastery of the game from the position of Half Point. An unusual football maturity in a 20 year old player.

Five years in the elite

The key, perhaps, resides in the five years that, despite its age, accumulates in professional football. Until reaching San Sebastián, the Norwegian pearl has come a long way that includes two years in Castile and another two and a half as ceded in Holland, first in the Heerenveen and then in the Vitesse , where last season proved to be already qualified to take a new leap in his career. Offers were left over to the boy, but they finally decided on the one from La Real, a club that in recent years has opted for somewhat muted early talents, sometimes successfully ( Januzaj ), sometimes without him ( Theo Hernández ).

A key figure for his landing in the Basque Country was his representative, Bjorn Tore Kvarme , one of the players who achieved the historic Txuriurdin league runner-up in 2003. Odegaard had several offers of Champions clubs, but he understood that the best for his Progression and approaching his goal of succeeding at Real Madrid was a Spanish team that fully trusted him and allowed him to accumulate experience in LaLiga. Hence, he finally decided to go on loan to Anoeta for two seasons, although it is possible that Madrid will activate his repesca if he pays four million euros .

In San Sebastián he lives in a quiet and secluded area, very popular among Real's players. He does it alone, although his older brother, Kristoffer , spends a few weeks with him as his mother and two sisters did in summer. His father, who was the one who moved with him to Madrid, and his uncle, physiotherapist of the Norwegian team, also visited him. His free time is spent playing Fortnite (although he recognizes that it is quite bad) and FIFA, after he completed his high school last year.

Although he arrived in San Sebastian with some rusty knowledge after two and a half years in Holland, he already manages Spanish again with absolute ease. During these first months, to expedite this process, he has worked hard to give private lessons. Meanwhile, his best ally has been the Swedish striker Alexander Isak (who will also face Spain on Tuesday), with whom he does not share a homeland but does speak language. That is not little.

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