Arsenal Sporting Director Edu Gaspar has made it clear that he believes Real Madrid could have gotten more out of Martin Odegaard had they dealt with his development a little better.
After Jude Bellingham received the 2023 Golden Boy award from Tuttosport, Edu was presented with an award for the best director. He was quizzed on Martin Odegaard after the awards night, and explained why he felt that the Norwegian had been a success at Arsenal and not Real Madrid.
“There are players who work well on one team and poorly on another. It depends on good moments, opportunities… our strategy is and was to sign young players, and he fit. He came on loan and then we decided to buy him.”
“We have been following Martin for many years and perhaps we have had the patience that others have not. Now he is one of our captains, enjoying himself, and is one of the recognisable faces of our team.”
He was more complementary of Los Blancos when asked exactly how far their current young sensation, Jude Bellingham, could go.
“Buffff, good question. You could already see in the Bundesliga that with his potential he could go very far but, when he arrives at Madrid and you start to see what he is doing, you realise that he is something special, different,” he told Marca.
“Now you have to enjoy when you see him playing. We must congratulate Real Madrid and him for the great season he is having. Football is happy to have players like him. His presence is great news.”
Certainly Odegaard’s situation looked as if it was poorly handled from the outside. He was finding his feet for the first time in Spain with Real Sociedad while he was on loan there, and had a second year in his deal at La Real to complete. Real Madrid recalled him early, but whne he returned to the Santiago Bernabeu, was given little in the way of opportunities to make his mark. After just 367 minutes, he was loaned out to Arsenal, where he would go on to become one of their stars and eventual captains.