Football The revolutionary 'gun' to end injuries at Real Madrid
During the last months of 2014, the boy
Martin Odegaard
, without having even reached the
age of 16
, visited
Valdebebas
, met the squad that had just won La
Décima
and decided, together with his family, that Madrid would be the ideal destination to continue his soccer adolescence. Madrid paid three million to
Stromsgodset
and the Norwegian left
Scandinavia
after a tour of the best sports cities on the continent. They say that seeing the
European
champions up close
and the possibility of being coached by
Zidane
, one of his idols, at
Castilla
convinced him.
Odegaard then began a six-year stage in which he has passed from a boy to a man and in which he has accumulated experience based on Erasmus:
Vitesse, Heerenveen, Real Sociedad, Arsenal
... A stage that, as confirmed by this newspaper, will now be closed after talks between Madrid and Arsenal for its final transfer, in the absence of official confirmation, for a figure close to
40 million euros
. A strange ending that nobody expected twelve months ago, but that responds to the series of circumstances experienced between player and club during the last year. A rupture that at this point in the film leaves all the protagonists happy, but that in the global analysis of Odegaard's Madrid career supposes a certain aroma of disappointment.
The Player's Career EM Charts
The steps of the roadmap
Madrid treated each of their assignments like gold in cloth, agreeing with the footballer and his environment on a careful roadmap at the end of which the Nordic starter appeared at the
Santiago Bernabéu
.
Odegaard learned at Castilla with Zidane, not always in a perfect relationship, and even made his debut with Ancelotti in the league, replacing
Cristiano Ronaldo
.
He packed his bags and got tanned in the
Netherlands
before breaking into a star in San Sebastian, a seamless plan that began to go awry in the summer of 2020.
After losing to
Manchester City
in the knockout stages of the Champions League, Zidane asked to bring forward the return of the Norwegian. He still had a season on loan at Real Sociedad, where he had become one of the revelations of the course, but his excellent level had fallen in love with the French coach. You already know the story that follows that decision: Odegaard started the 2020-2021 campaign and fell out of the line-ups after Madrid's defeat against
Shakhtar
. The injuries did not help either, but before the crisis of the team, Zidane ended the rotations and returned to his natural midfield, with
Casemiro, Kroos and Modric
.
That undermined the confidence of Odegaard, who, far from having patience, as
Fede Valverde
had shown
, the great example that the club sets for these cases, asked to leave Arsenal in winter.
That situation was a point of friction between the club and Zidane because Odegaard was considered a fundamental pillar in the future of the team, but with the arrival of Carlo Ancelotti it was decided to start from scratch.
The summer distancing
Far from regaining confidence, the preseason has ended up distancing Madrid and the player. The club's technicians have found him shy on the pitch, without the blood and
enthusiasm
shown by other young people, and even
Ancelotti
, a midfielder lover, has not been enthusiastic about him: "There are eight footballers in his position", the Italian stressed last Friday. In short, they have not seen the Odegaard that they had fallen in love with in San Sebastián.
The Norwegian, meanwhile, was willing to take on the difficulties of the challenge, he wanted to try again and fight for a position, but at the same time he remembered the negative experience of last season with Zidane and listened to the siren songs of the Premier. Despite not having made a spectacular final stretch of the season at Arsenal,
Mikel Arteta
has insisted on him since May, convinced that he is the missing piece in his attack, and the Norwegian has agreed to change of scene. At
22 he will
try to be reborn in England, in a team that for the first time in 25 years will not play Europe, but in which he will be the star.
Madrid, for its part, will make the first sale of one of the great projects of that plan of young promises that began five years ago.
Follow
Valverde, Vinicius, Rodrygo, Reinier, Kubo or Brahim
, on staff or assigned, but it will not Odegaard.
The club keeps a right of first refusal, but not a buyback option.
And to the portfolio, more millions to control the losses of the pandemic and for the final objective of these two weeks:
Kylian Mbappé
.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
Martin Odegaard
Zinedine Zidane
Carlo Ancelotti
Real Madrid
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