One year on, Martin Odegaard has been a disaster
A year after his arrival, the question remains: why did Real Madrid sign Martin Odegaard? The young Norwegian has been, until now, one of the biggest failures in Florentino Perez's transfer policy. And there have been plenty.
January 22, 2015, Odegaard enjoyed being presented as a galactico, even though he arrived as a 'nobody'. He came as the youngest player to debut in the Norwegian top flight the youngest to debut with his country, and one of the most promising players in Europe.
368 days later, and despite the desires of Florentino, he has not found a place in the first team and looms as a suspicious package in Castilla, with everyone wary of his unjustified airs.
In all this time, the "Norwegian pearl" has only scoed one goal - against Barakaldo - and has provided 2 assists in 21 games he's played with Madrid's B team, starting just 10 games.
Under orders from above, Carlo Ancelotti gave him his debut on May 23, in the last game of the season against Getafe. In the final minutes the image of Martin Odegaard coming on for Cristiano Ronaldo was perfectly suited for marketing criteria. The Bernabeu clapped him on, but the Norwegian, wearing No 41, went unnoticed.
The signing of Odegaard has not gone as expected. Madrid paid 2.3million for him, a price which could rise to 6.8m. So far, an utter waste.
The turth is that at the Bernabeu they have been disappointed by him. People are suspicious they have been taken in by a marketing operation which was designed to see him join one of the biggest clubs in Europe. Odegaard was trialed at Liverpoo, Chelsea, Man United, City, Arsenal and other sides.
The only one that took the bait was Florentino, who also granted him Galactico status. From when he arrived at Valdebebas, Odegaard has had special privileges. His annual salary, of 1.2m a year, has also upset his Castilla colleagues. In his contract he has it set that he gets to train with the first team - something that has upset both squads. He has no good relationships with his Castilla team-mates, bar a close core with Austrian Philipp Lienhart and the Colombian Narvaez. On the pitch he has brought nothing and nor did he take advantage of Rafa Benitez bringing him on the tour last summer.
The signing of Odegaard is, right now, a fiasco. When the coach of the first team feels he needs to dip into Castilla to fill out the first team squad, Odegaard is not an option. Lienhart, Borja Mayoral and Marcos Llorente are ahead of him. He was not even called up for the cup clash with Cadiz. Madrid want to loan him out but nobody wants to experiment with a player so young and he's not exactly doing well in Segunda B as it is. Getafe could have been his destiny but Odegaard's people only want him at one of the most important clubs in Europe.
