Carlo Ancelotti has shed some light on Real Madrid’s signing of Martin Odegaard.
The Norwegian midfielder had just turned 16 when he signed for Madrid in January 2015 from Strømsgodset. Odegaard had been scouted by plenty of Europe’s top clubs, and was considered to have the potential to develop into one the best players in the world.
However, Odegaard’s progress appears to have stalled somewhat, despite making his first-team debut as a second-half substitute for Cristiano Ronaldo in May 2015.
The 17-year-old hasn’t been seen with the first-team since, and his playing time has been largely consigned to the club’s second and third teams.
Yet, according to Ancelotti, the Madrid coach when the Norwegian joined the club, Odegaard’s signing wasn’t motivated by footballing reasons. The Italian claims in his new book that it was a public relations exercise by the club’s president.
“When Florentino [Perez] buys a Norwegian footballer, you simply have to accept it,” the new Bayern Munich coach writes in “Quiet Leadership.”
“Furthermore, the president decided that he would play three games with the first team as a public relations exercise. He could be the best player in the world, but I don’t care because he was not a player who I asked for. That signing was to do with PR”
According to Spanish media outlet AS, the club wish to send Odegaard on loan next season, with the player’s father preferring a move to either England or Germany.
We doubt he’ll be joining Bayern.
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