Anderlecht assistant coach Ian Burchnall says he knew ‘special’ Martin Odegaard was destined for the top after watching the Norway international at the age of 15.
Burchnall was assistant at Norwegian side Sarpsborg at the time when Odegaard was coming through at Strømsgodset and the midfielder ran the show as a teenager when the two sides met.
Odegaard was quickly snapped up by Real Madrid in 2016 but after struggling for game time at the Spanish giants, the 24-year-old moved to Arsenal on loan in January 2021 in a move which became permanent later that year.
The Norway international has since evolved into Arsenal’s talisman and is having his best season in front of goal, having found the back of the net 15 times this season.
Odegaard’s performances meant he was handed the captain’s armband by Mikel Arteta at the start of the season and the Gunners boss hailed his leadership when speaking to the media last week.
Burchnall isn’t surprised that Odegaard has now become one of the best midfielders in the Premier League and says players in Norway couldn’t get near the Arsenal star as a teenager.
Speaking exclusively to talkSPORT, Burchnall said: “Before I was at Viking, I was at Sarpsborg and Martin was coming through at Strømsgodset before he went to Real Madrid and he was only a 15-year-old and he was playing in the first team.
“To watch him at 15 was something special because you could just see [his] game intelligence and technically – even though he was really lightweight at 15 – he could cope with the level because of his qualities on the ball.
“Odegaard was playing in a number ten role and he was 15. It’s crazy! We [Sarpsborg] were playing against him and had a couple of really experienced players; Jeremy Berthod – ex-Lyon – and a midfielder [called] Steffen Ernemann, who was a really experienced Danish midfielder.
“I remember they saw the team sheet and it was like: ‘Martin Odegaard’s playing, he’s 15.’ I remember Steffen [Ernemann] saying: ‘I’m just going to smash him and he won’t want to know after that.’
“I just remember us not getting close to the boy. He moved so elegantly and so intelligently at 15 years old in terms of finding spaces and he scored against us.
“You could see straight away when he came in, his touch and his vision was just a level above. It was a young age to go to Real Madrid, but you could see that he had that capability without a doubt.”
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Source link: https://talksport.com/football/1429292/martin-odegaard-15-year-old-wonderkid-arsenal/
