When Martin Odegaard left his native Norway as a 16-year-old to sign for Real Madrid, it was with the world at his feet and a sense of inevitability about his rise to the very top of the game.
Rarely, if ever, had such a broad audience been so aware of such a young talent at such an early stage, a genuine ‘wonderkid’ who had made his first-team debut for Stromsgodset at 13, had his pick of Europe’s elite clubs as a schoolboy, and whose path to stardom had been ratified by Football Manager enthusiasts around the world.
