Spanish media turn on Martin Odegaard for leaving Real Madrid | OneFootball

Martin Odegaard is receiving the same treatment from the Real Madrid-friendly press in Spain as Mesut Ozil did when he left the club for Arsenal.

Martin Odegaard

Arsenal announced the signing of Martin Odegaard on Friday morning and it took no time at all for some sites and papers in Spain to start blathering on that Odegaard didn’t have what it takes to stay and fight for his place at Real Madrid.

In fact, some had even started it before Arsenal made their announcement.

They believe that Odegaard should have stayed and fought for a place, regardless of what his time there has told us all about how Real Madrid plan to use him.

When Odegaard was sent on loan to Arsenal in January, reports in Spain bemoaned the fact that he wouldn’t be around should Real Madrid pick up a host of injuries. The truth is, they don’t think he didn’t want to fight, they are just p**sed that a player wanted to leave Real Madrid and they’ve been stripped of an option.

Odegaard returned to Real Madrid this summer with every intention of making a name for himself there. He wanted a first team spot and, if Carlo Ancelotti had shown any intention of giving one to him at some point in the near future, then he would not have left for Arsenal.

After six years as a Real Madrid player, Martin Odegaard, who moved from Strømsgodset for £2.52m as a 16-year-old, how much longer was he expected to wait? Over the course of his Real Madrid career, Odegaard played more games for Arsenal (20 vs 11). They gave him a total of 489 minutes, only 264 of which were in La Liga.

Contrast these claims after it was announced Odegaard is now an Arsenal player with what they were saying when he returned to Real Madrid. Odegaard reportedly ‘dazzled’ in Real Madrid training and was ‘stronger than ever’ following his Arsenal loan. Now, he’s apparently signed for a club in Arsenal where he will face ongoing struggles.

Defensa Central reported that Odegaard was the standout player in Real Madrid training when they returned at the start of July, dazzling those watching.

Still, it wasn’t enough and Odegaard wasn’t even given a squad number ahead of Real Madrid’s opening league game.

After six years, what more did they expect Odegaard to do?

It’s worth noting that the Daily Mail seized on this opportunity to slate Arsenal. In addition to their three pages of anti-Arsenal content in their Saturday edition, they also published a piece, based one one of the articles mentioned above, to do a piece that opened:

Martin Odegaard ‘wanted to STAY at Real Madrid’ but ‘expected a red carpet to a first-team place’… before boss Carlo Ancelotti handed Arsenal’s £30m buy an exit after telling him there were EIGHT players fighting for his position