For most players, signing for Real Madrid is the stuff of dreams. To do it as a 15-year-old is something else entirely.
Back in 2015, a teenage Martin Odegaard did exactly that, as the Spanish giants won the race for one of Europe’s most sought-after young talents, snapping him up from Stromsgodset in a €4million deal.
Any move like this, however, comes with inordinate amounts of hype, scrutiny and expectation, something that Odegaard can now fully appreciate, more than a decade on.
Odegaard on his whirlwind move to Madrid
The Norwegian’s first recollection is one of comedy, as the then-teenager suffered a memorably bad hair day.
“It was very early in the morning when we flew from Norway,” Odegaard recalls to FourFourTwo. “We had to wake up early, so I just grabbed some clothes from the top of my wardrobe and packed my suitcase. I thought that we’d get there, then go to the hotel, have a shower and get changed.
“We arrived and it was really busy straight away,” he says, looking back on the day of his medical. “We went straight from the airport to the hospital and then on to the training ground – it was non-stop.
“Then suddenly they said, ‘OK, now we go to the press conference.’ You can see it in that press conference – the striped jumper and my hair everywhere! I was just in the moment. I was happy, proud. I didn’t really care about anything else around it. That was just how it was. Now I can understand how crazy that was. Going there so young, with all of that attention and pressure. I didn’t think about it too much back then.”
Odegaard would go to play just 11 first-team games for Madrid, with loan spells at Heerenveen, Vitesse Arnhem and Real Sociedad following, before he would find his new home at Arsenal in 2021.
“When I signed for Madrid, it wasn’t like I was expecting to go out on loan for two years, to go to three different clubs, but that’s football,” he admits. “I didn’t play a lot of games for the first team at Real and then with the second team, I don’t know, I just felt like I needed to go somewhere to play first-team football in order to grow as a player and a person.
“The Netherlands was a bit random at the time, but it was a really good step for me. The Dutch league and the clubs I played for, Heerenveen and Vitesse Arnhem, both helped me grow, to take on more responsibility. They give young players trust. For me, that was really important. It was a good decision to go there – that’s a massive part of who I am today. It helped me grow so much.”
The Norwegian’s time at Real Sociedad saw him play a vital role in setting the club on the path to winning the Copa del Rey, with the final taking place the following season due to delays owing to the Covid pandemic.
“I was supposed to stay at Sociedad for two years, but in the end it was one,” he adds. “It was Covid time and it wasn’t easy to sign new players, so Real Madrid wanted me to go back, be part of the team and fight for my spot.
“That’s what I tried to do and in the end it didn’t work out like that, so I went to Arsenal. That’s just life and football, I don’t feel bad about it. You never know what’s going to happen and sometimes it turns out a bit different, that’s all. It all counts towards what I am today.”
