Martin Odegaard has confessed that his experience at Real Madrid helped turn him into the player he is today.
Odegaard joined Madrid in 2015 when he was perhaps the most in-demand 16-year-old in history, but his spell in Spain did not go to plan as he ended up with just 11 senior appearances before leaving for Arsenal in 2021.
Loan spells with Heerenveen, Vitesse and Real Sociedad all brought success but Odegaard found minutes in Madrid hard to come by, and a loan to Arsenal in January 2021 brought about a permanent end to his time in Spain six months later.
Despite falling short of expectations at Madrid, Odegaard insisted he had no regrets about moving to the Santiago Bernabeu.
"My time in Madrid was good," he told a press conference. "It was a positive stage.
"I learned to mature and it was a great learning experience, but I needed to play more. I am happy with the decision to leave and with how my time there went.
"If I had not gone to Madrid I would not have reached the level I have today. Madrid is the biggest club in the world and the pressure there is too."
Odegaard revealed earlier this year that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta played a major role in convincing him to leave Madrid.
“I spoke to Mikel Arteta on a Zoom call and he told me all about the project,” Odegaard wrote in The Players’ Tribune. “At the time, Arsenal were not doing well. They were way down like 15th in the table, but that meeting … Honestly, I challenge anyone to come away from a meeting with Arteta and not believe everything he tells you.
“He is next level. It's hard to explain. He’s passionate, he’s intense and sometimes, yeah, he’s a bit crazy … but when he speaks, you understand that whatever he says will happen, will happen.
“He told me his plan, everything he was building towards. He knew exactly what needed to change at the club. He told me all about these amazing young players in the squad — Saka, Martinelli, Smith Rowe, etc etc. He told me how he wanted me to fit in and how I was going to improve.
“I got this strong feeling that he was onto something really special.”
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This article was originally published on 90min as Martin Odegaard explains how Real Madrid stint contributed to Arsenal success.