Real Madrid: In defense of Martin Odegaard wanting to leave the club

After months of speculation, Martin Odegaard will be heading back to Arsenal. But this time, he won’t just be leaving for half a season. No, Odegaard is leaving Real Madrid for good after realizIng he would not be a starter for the club.

Odegaard’s uncertain future caused many Madridistas to murmur, using words like “mentality” and implying that Odegaard is too soft to succeed at Real. But these comments are overly simplistic, unfair, and fail to take into account the context of Odegaard’s career.

See, Odegaard qualifies as a prodigy. He was signed by Real Madrid in January 2015 and made his first-team debut in May. At the time, the Norwegian was just 16 years old and receiving a ton of hype. He was a phenom, and people were already expecting him to be a big star.

So when fans didn’t hear about him much during various loan spells in the Eredivisie, which is not a well-followed league, the negativity started creeping in. Casual fans started to think of him as a bust, simply because they had not heard about him between his Real Madrid “debut” in 2015 and his final stint with Vitesse in 2018-2019.

Martin Odegaard didn’t have time to think about his future at Real Madrid

But Odegaard reminded everyone of his sublime quality and showed just how far he had come in the Eredivisie by leading Real Sociedad to a fiery start to the 2019-2020 season. Odegaard was one of LaLiga’s best players and could have pushed La Real into a Champions League spot if he did not suffer a significant, nagging injury.

I bring up this timeline not just to remind people that Odegaard showed world-class ability within LaLiga itself, but also to highlight that he fought for YEARS. He took a difficult path, going on loan after loan as a very young footballer. And he had to succeed and work amidst pressure that very few other young players have had to deal with.

That also means Odegaard didn’t have much time to think about the person or player he wanted to be. A 16-year-old is still a child and is still figuring themselves out when it comes to what they value and what their goals are. And the same can even be said for a 21-year-old. Everything was decided for Odegaard at such a young age, and all the hype and expectations meant that he had little time for himself. He was told he was going to be the next big thing and to work towards becoming a Galactic superstar at Real Madrid.

But what if that’s not what he wanted? Or, maybe, what if that’s what he wanted to accomplish LATER?

Martin Odegaard may not be afraid to compete, he may just want something else

Different people value different things. We see that in football all the time. Marco Reus, unlike his peers, never left his hometown club of Dortmund despite lucrative offers elsewhere. Instead of wanting to win the Champions League or make more money, Reus values the connection with the fans and his city, as well as the opportunity to mentor others. Does it mean he is mentally weak for not wanting to excel at Barcelona or Bayern Munich? Absolutely not. That’s just not his priority, and nobody has ever questioned his principles or contributions to the sport.

Odegaard, meanwhile, was anointed as this larger-than-life prospect. Maybe that was his ambition at one point. But as he’s gotten a little older, it’s entirely possible his priorities have changed. It may not be that he is averse to competing at Real Madrid. It may simply be that he would prefer to be the focal point of Arsenal and be at a club where he feels like he can pull the strings and elevate those around him, as opposed to being an occasional piece of the puzzle. If he has ambitions of going to the biggest and best clubs in the world, it’s possible he would prefer to do that in the future, once he has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is a top, top player.

Without knowing Odegaard, I would be willing to bet this is the case. That he does not have anything against Madrid, nor is he afraid of the expectations, as I once wrongly speculated. It is more likely that he loves football, he wants to enjoy these important years of his career where development is paramount, and he wants to be in a spot where he can take on responsibility at a mid-table club with potential (sorry, Arsenal fans, that is where you are at right now) before taking on that responsibility elsewhere.

I can understand where Odegaard is coming from if all of this is the case. And I want to kindly ask Real Madrid fans not to send vitriol out of him or question his toughness. Remember, as a fan, you represent a fanbase, whether you like it or not. Other young players, other aspiring players are watching and reading what they say. Surely, you don’t want them to get the impression that fans at Real Madrid are unforgiving.

As disappointed as you may be that Odegaard did not want to stay and scratch and claw for starts, realize that everyone is different. It is vital for us, as fans of these wonderful athletes, to respect their wishes. Real certainly did by agreeing to sell.