Martin Ødegaard was supposed to be the future, wasn’t he?
Signed for big money at a young age, the Norweigan was being talked up as the next great European midfielder; but it hasn’t worked out that way until now.
However, instead of cutting their losses and selling Ødegaard at a loss Madrid farmed him out to the Netherlands and Vitesse Arnhem where, no doubt, he’s made a lot of friends with loanees from Chelsea.
And now, many sports sites are reporting that Real Madrid are looking to recall the midfielder back to the Bernabeu next season where he could form part of Zinedine Zidane’s refurbished squad. The fans are very passionate about this possibility and especially in Norway some betting and odds sites (which you can find at Norsk-casino.info) might soon start to throw predictions on the return of Ødegaard.
Ødegaard was initially signed as a central midfielder and struggled to make an instant impact in Spain, making only two senior appearances for Madrid.
Over in the Eredivisie, his current head coach the wily Leonid Slutsky has moved him out to the right wing and the results have been impressive.
Ødegaard has started 25 times for Slutsky and has delivered six goals and six assists. This kind of form has seen him break into the Norwegian national side and he featured in the recent internationals against Spain and Sweden.
It’s his creativity that is catching the eye of the Real Madrid staff once more. Ødegaard is averaging 3.4 key passes per 90 minutes this season and it is this creative influence that has seen whoscored.com rank him as man-of-the-match seven times this season, five more times than any other player in his team.
The main question is, would he actually feature for Zidane’s team if he were to return?
Real are going to go through wholesale changes over the summer as they look to recover from a poor season that has seen them coached by three different people, crash out of the Champions League and watch Barcelona (undoubtedly) race to the La Liga title.
However, one area Zidane’s squad is well stocked in is young, creative wide attackers who can also play inside.
Ødegaard will be competing with the likes of Isco for a spot in the starting XI and that’s without even considering who could be joining the former Champions League winners this summer.
Real Madrid traditionally like to go big when it comes to signing attacking players and there is the small matter of them still being linked to Eden Hazard.
Whilst Hazard would, no doubt, like to play from the left were he to join Madrid that then begs the question of what happens to Vinicius Junior? He could play off the right, meaning Ødegaard is already down the pecking order.
Ødegaard is, to many, a forgotten man at Real Madrid and if he were to return from the Netherlands over the summer it is unlikely to get the fans too excited. After all, given the success of Ajax in Europe this season, there are many other players from that neck of the woods that the Madrid fans would be more interested in signing.
I think it is more likely that Real Madrid will, in fact, cut their losses this summer and a move to Ajax to replace one of their departing stars is the most likely destination.
