Martin Ødegaard - Next season

Here's all his touches against Go Ahead Eagles:



Definitely his best match for them, for me. I reckon he's going to be going from strength to strength from now on... for the most part, fluctuating form hits anybody, not least 18 year olds.
 
Not too surprised. Another 16 year old wonderkid who will be the next big thing. Seen it before.
 
Shame he didn't have Sergio Canales' number before heading over to Madrid. He'd make a killing making a DVD with Freddy Adu and Bebe titled 'The New Maradona's who turned out to be the new Djemba-Djembas'
 
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Champagne Football said:
Shame he didn't have Sergio Canales' number before heading over to Madrid. He'd make a killing making a DVD with Freddy Adu and Bebe titled 'The New Maradona's who turned out to be the new Djemba-Djembas'
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He's already made an absolute fortune on his Madrid move, could probably retire at 21...
 
Nero said:
Not too surprised. Another 16 year old wonderkid who will be the next big thing. Seen it before.
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Well then you will be surprised because he's not 'just another wonderkid'. He's an exceptionally amazing talent. To expect him to be producing anything world class at this age is too much.
 
shamans said:
Well then you will be surprised because he's not 'just another wonderkid'. He's an exceptionally amazing talent. To expect him to be producing anything world class at this age is too much.
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werent all wonderkids exceptionally amazing talents? Wonderkids get called wonderkids because of that
 
Red Katie said:
If he's losing his desire at 17 he's in trouble. Hopefully not though.
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He's 18 and he's had about 10m so far, if you won the lottery would you keep your desire to be the best in your field? Too much money too young these days sadly, happened to Adnan and many others.
 
yumtum said:
He's 18 and he's had about 10m so far, if you won the lottery would you keep your desire to be the best in your field? Too much money too young these days sadly, happened to Adnan and many others.
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Well there's also many examples of players who keep up motivation and continues to progress. It's a bit sad if this happens as we don't see many talented players in Norway.
 
PedroMendez said:
The question is not so much one of age, but did he make any progress at all during the last 2 years?
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I wouldn't have said so, look at the impact Rashford made at 18 and now Mbappe. When Odegaard was 15 he looked as good as it gets for that age group. Now he is 18 there are many players ahead of him.
 
shamans said:
Well then you will be surprised because he's not 'just another wonderkid'. He's an exceptionally amazing talent. To expect him to be producing anything world class at this age is too much.
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Why? Exceptionally amazing talents like Rashford and Mbappé are doing just fine
 
It's his own fault. He could have picked pretty much any club in Europe given the amount interested in him and he picks the one which has the toughest route to first team football. Stupid decision. Should have gone to a club which would have given him regular first team football from the off.
 
Such as?

He was 16 at the time FFS. And he did get first team football at Castilla

He should have gone to Ajax maybe
 
RedSky said:
It's his own fault. He could have picked pretty much any club in Europe given the amount interested in him and he picks the one which has the toughest route to first team football. Stupid decision. Should have gone to a club which would have given him regular first team football from the off.
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I get what you are saying and although I agree with the sentiment there is a part of me that thinks he was right to go to Madrid - the reason being that at the age of 16 there is no guarantee you will make it as a professional footballer, no matter how talented you are, you could get a serious injury, you could not develop as expected, etc., etc. In that context I think it could be seen as a great decision to go to Madrid at that age and get set-up for life financially when your stock is possibly at the highest it will ever be as a footballer.
 
balaks said:
I get what you are saying and although I agree with the sentiment there is a part of me that thinks he was right to go to Madrid - the reason being that at the age of 16 there is no guarantee you will make it as a professional footballer, no matter how talented you are, you could get a serious injury, you could not develop as expected, etc., etc. In that context I think it could be seen as a great decision to go to Madrid at that age and get set-up for life financially when your stock is possibly at the highest it will ever be as a footballer.
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That's the attitude of a player who doesn't totally believe in his ability though. If he was honestly wanting to become one of the worlds best players then you need to play first team football during your teenage years to develop. Not be stuck at youth level or getting farmed out on loan to SC Heerenveen. He should have picked a club a tier below Madrid.

Just my opinion and thats not a dig at Madrid either. He'd have faced the same issues at most Top Clubs.
 
RedSky said:
That's the attitude of a player who doesn't totally believe in his ability though. If he was honestly wanting to become one of the worlds best players then you need to play first team football during your teenage years to develop. Not be stuck at youth level or getting farmed out on loan to SC Heerenveen. He should have picked a club a tier below Madrid.

Just my opinion and thats not a dig at Madrid either. He'd have faced the same issues at most Top Clubs.
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I know what you mean but I think if it was my son or if I was the kid I'd have gone to Madrid for the reasons I stated - you could turn what you said on it's head and say that perhaps he went to Madrid because he believed in his ability so much he felt he could break into the first team within a year or two.
 
balaks said:
I know what you mean but I think if it was my son or if I was the kid I'd have gone to Madrid for the reasons I stated - you could turn what you said on it's head and say that perhaps he went to Madrid because he believed in his ability so much he felt he could break into the first team within a year or two.
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I would have gone to a Europa League / Champions League (minor club) if it was me. Still get the publicity/experience from playing in Europe and developing my skills as a teenager while playing first team football. Lets face it, he'd still get paid solid money at these clubs and still be motivated (which is an issue for some players) to get to the top tier. It's not even like those clubs would refuse a big money offer either from a top tier club when he reaches 18/19.

No patience these days.
 
Hadn't seen anything of him untill this season. He looked talented in his games for Heerenveen, and should have a pretty good future in football. But for me a player like Ajax's Justin Kluivert left a much bigger impression than him this season, and he's like 6 months younger. So I don't think Odegaard is the next big thing. But if he plays enough somewhere he should slowly develop into a good player. Should've gone to Ajax instead of Real Madrid in my opinion, could've gone the road of Eriksen, he reminds me of him.
 
He was never going to break into the Madrid setup at such an age. Bad advice given to him.

Career would have developed much better had he gone somewhere like ajax or Southampton first. He could always have made a bigger move later
 
Bloedrood said:
Hadn't seen anything of him untill this season. He looked talented in his games for Heerenveen, and should have a pretty good future in football. But for me a player like Ajax's Justin Kluivert left a much bigger impression than him this season, and he's like 6 months younger. So I don't think Odegaard is the next big thing. But if he plays enough somewhere he should slowly develop into a good player. Should've gone to Ajax instead of Real Madrid in my opinion, could've gone the road of Eriksen, he reminds me of him.
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Odegaard earns £80k a week. Becoming a 'good' player will be seen as a massive failure.
 
balaks said:
I get what you are saying and although I agree with the sentiment there is a part of me that thinks he was right to go to Madrid - the reason being that at the age of 16 there is no guarantee you will make it as a professional footballer, no matter how talented you are, you could get a serious injury, you could not develop as expected, etc., etc. In that context I think it could be seen as a great decision to go to Madrid at that age and get set-up for life financially when your stock is possibly at the highest it will ever be as a footballer.
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I fully agree mate. It's all well and good saying you should go somewhere to develop properly, but as a footballer, especially a young one, one bad injury and that's that for your career at the top. At the end of the day it is a job, and in the real world the money you earn is more important than prestige, only in the sphere of football is titles etc as important. If i were in his position and I had the choice between going to Madrid and being set for life, or going to a smaller club, earning significantly less but developing more, I know which option I would choose.
 
Champagne Football said:
Shame he didn't have Sergio Canales' number before heading over to Madrid. He'd make a killing making a DVD with Freddy Adu and Bebe titled 'The New Maradona's who turned out to be the new Djemba-Djembas'
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Bebe is far better than Adu. United wasn't his level but he has done alright in midtable teams from Portugal and Spain. It wasn't his fault that United got duped by Mendes. Adu was confortably one of the worst players i saw playing at Benfica. And they had some really crappy players in the past such as Steve Harkness, Scott Minto, Michael Thomas or Gary Charles. He couldn't hack it at Belenenses either. So much slower and less technically gifted than the average portuguese league player.
 
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RedSky said:
I would have gone to a Europa League / Champions League (minor club) if it was me. Still get the publicity/experience from playing in Europe and developing my skills as a teenager while playing first team football. Lets face it, he'd still get paid solid money at these clubs and still be motivated (which is an issue for some players) to get to the top tier. It's not even like those clubs would refuse a big money offer either from a top tier club when he reaches 18/19.

No patience these days.
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And which EL/CL club would have given first team football to a 16 years old, exactly? At real madrid, he got in the third/4th division of spanish football.

The real question if anything is if playing in the spanish 4th division for Castilla was a better choice for him than spending 1 year and a half in the ajax youth system
 
Quite simple really, recall him in the summer and loan him to Alaves or Espanyol, throw money at them to play him as a starter and hope he regains that sterling form he had for Castilla.

Because he is going nowhere in the Netherlands atm.
 
Red Katie said:
Well there's also many examples of players who keep up motivation and continues to progress. It's a bit sad if this happens as we don't see many talented players in Norway.
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Not really, don't think there's many players out there that would have earned a 10 million pounds by the time they were 18! The players at the top of the game are in the small minority of those that have the desire to improve and don't lose that when they get the money.

The sad fact is that it's human nature to lose that drive once you're comfortable.
 
yumtum said:
Not really, don't think there's many players out there that would have earned a 10 million pounds by the time they were 18! The players at the top of the game are in the small minority of those that have the desire to improve and don't lose that when they get the money.

The sad fact is that it's human nature to lose that drive once you're comfortable.
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I mean one could argue, why would you wanna put in that sort of dedication when you have $10million?

Personally, I think we are too quick to judge which players just lost the desire compared to never being that amazing in the first place. I do think Odegaard will come good.
 
shamans said:
I mean one could argue, why would you wanna put in that sort of dedication when you have $10million?

Personally, I think we are too quick to judge which players just lost the desire compared to never being that amazing in the first place. I do think Odegaard will come good.
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I agree with you, if I won the lottery I'd be on perma vacation! It's why you see a lot of South American players good to China etc, I don't blame them because it takes a special kind of character to become condo in life and still have that desire to improve yourself, I know for a fact I don't have it, just a question of if Odegaard has it.
 
giorno said:
And which EL/CL club would have given first team football to a 16 years old, exactly? At real madrid, he got in the third/4th division of spanish football.

The real question if anything is if playing in the spanish 4th division for Castilla was a better choice for him than spending 1 year and a half in the ajax youth system
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I can already think of... Havertz, Pusilic, Passlack, Upamecano, Mbappe, Sarr they were given games as 17/18 year olds. Sure there are more, but that would require checking a bit more.

All of the above players will most likely be sold in a few years as well to bigger clubs.
 
They were barely given minutes as 17 years old. Odegaard was getting first team football with Castilla and training with the first team(cristiano, modric, ramos, etc) while those guys were still youth players
 
Ajax 2nd team plays in the Dutch 2nd division. They're pretty decent too, finished 2nd this year. That's where he would've started playing back then I imagine. They also have top talents training with their first team and playing for their 2nd team. Difference to Real is that these talents also regularly get games in Ajax's first team and actually have a big shot at progressing.

But these last 2 seasons will be much less crucial than the upcoming seasons in my opinion. If he's going to end up getting loaned out alot in the next seasons, that's far from an ideal situation and comes with risks. He needs to be at a club thats invested into his future and cares about his longterm development, a club that's patient with him, where he can settle in, play regularly, grow confidence and mature.
 
RedSky said:
It's his own fault. He could have picked pretty much any club in Europe given the amount interested in him and he picks the one which has the toughest route to first team football. Stupid decision. Should have gone to a club which would have given him regular first team football from the off.
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Regular first team football?
Wasn't he 16 when he first moved to Madrid?
No club is going to give a 16 year old regular 1st team game time. Even Messi/Ronaldo did not receive this privilage.

The simple truth is that the kid (and his parents) went for the best money and the biggest club who'd have him. I don't blame him.
 
sunama said:
Regular first team football?
Wasn't he 16 when he first moved to Madrid?
No club is going to give a 16 year old regular 1st team game time. Even Messi/Ronaldo did not receive this privilage.

The simple truth is that the kid (and his parents) went for the best money and the biggest club who'd have him. I don't blame him.
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:confused::confused: He was playing regularly for Strømsgodset in the Norwegian top division. In fact, he was the best player in the entire league in his final season. He would definitely have gotten regular first team football in a better team in a better league if he chose more wisely and didn't regress.
 
Macern said:
:confused::confused: He was playing regularly for Strømsgodset in the Norwegian top division. In fact, he was the best player in the entire league in his final season. He would definitely have gotten regular first team football in a better team in a better league if he chose more wisely and didn't regress.
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Problem is which teams would he start in? Realistically I couldn't see him starting in the PL, even with Sunderland for example because he surely wouldn't be strong enough physically? Plus most of the PL managers seem a bit crap with playing genuine youth players.

Would have thought somewhere with a passion for youth development - Ajax for example - would have been a better move for him + less limelight whilst still getting more than enough money
 
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