C1: Odegaard, the Norwegian “Wonderkid” arrived too high too early

The lights of the team presenting the most beautiful European record were perhaps too brilliant, the pressure too heavy, for the shoulders of the “Wonderkid”. This term, often used in English to speak of young nuggets in world football, was however more than learned, in 2015, to designate Martin Odegaard, a left -handed playmaker that Europe was tearing up, after promising professional beginnings at the age of 15, in Strømsgodset, Norway.

Real Madrid, reigning European champion under the orders of Zinedine Zidane, then won the auctions, and made him the youngest recruit in the history of the club, at only 16 years old and a few days. The initial deal: the Scandinavian prodigy will train with the first team, but will first play with the reserve to take its marks.

“It was surreal. I was not big enough to drive, so my father had to bring me every day in training to play with Isco, Ronaldo, Ramos, Modric, Bale and Benzema, as if he were dropping me off at school”had told Odegaard in a column in 2023. Difficult, if not impossible for him to make his place in a locker room also provided and faced with such a raised competition, despite a huge talent.

“When he arrived, he was very young. There was no room for him in the team. Before we had Ronaldo, Benzema, James Rodriguez, and he did not find the space to show his qualities”, summed up before the first leg Carlo Ancelotti. “I understand today why it didn't work. I was just a childexplains the Norwegian. I was putting myself too much pressure, and I stopped playing with the spark that animated my game. I was more careful not to make mistakes, while my game has always been to make the difference, to try the difficult pass “he develops.

The rest? A succession of more or less fruitful loans, in Heerenveen and at Arnhem speed, in the Netherlands, before exploding, finally, at Real Sociedad, to convince the Madrid club to give it a chance during the 2020-21 season. But there too, the competition is rough, and the handful of minutes disputed by his son, now 19, are not enough for his father and agent Hans Erik.

Arsenal, then in full revolution after the arrival on his Spanish bench Mikel Arteta, reaches an agreement with Real for another loan, and then breaks his piggy bank (35 million euros), to make Odegaard his new star. The Norwegian international will even quickly become the new captain of the Gunners, following the departures of Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, asserting himself as one of the best players in the Premier League.

It was also with the armband around the arm, and the status of technical leader, that the left-hander participated in the masterpiece of the first leg (3-0), where his teammate Declan Rice stole the spotlight with two overpowered cannon strokes. Keeping this advantage to eliminate your old club on its legendary lawn, and bring Arsenal back to the last square of the C1 for the first time since 2009, would devote its ascent to the highest level. And would reward his choice, winning, to leave to shine.