For years, Martin Odegaard was viewed as a player who struggled to reach the potential that he had showed while coming through the youth ranks. When Real Madrid had signed him, he was arguably the most in-demand teenager in the world and was expected to go on to be a first-team superstar for Los Blancos one day.
That did not happen and he was never even able to nail down a spot in the first-team. After only a handful of appearances and no goals or assists for Real Madrid, he would end up joining Arsenal in 2021, initially on a loan and then on a permanent basis.
It would be an understatement to say that Odegaard has been superb this season. The Norwegian has been in inspirational form, and is both scoring and assisting, as Arsenal could be on the way to their first Premier League title in almost two decades.
Arsenal have been in immaculate form this season and are already leading the Premier League by seven points. Odegaard, who is also captaining the side at 24 years of age, has been one of the main reasons behind their incredible run. Naturally, rumours have broken out about a potential return to Real Madrid in the future.
Fabrizio Romano clears up Real Madrid and Martin Odegaard situation
As tweeted out by Fabrizio Romano, Real Madrid don’t have any buy back clause for Odegaard and he is in love with the Arsenal project.
It is hard not to think that Real Madrid might have made a mistake letting Odegaard go. He could have actually been a long-term solution in the middle of the park for the club with Luka Modric 37 years of age and Toni Kroos rumoured to be considering retirement.
The problem is, he never showed this kind of form in the Royal White jersey, or any of the clubs he went out on loan to. As a result, Mikel Arteta deserves a lot of credit for the job he has done with the Norwegian in the past couple of years.