Christiano Ronaldo’s 2015 comment about Martin Odegaard is seemingly coming to pass, after he predicted how the young player’s future would go.
Long before becoming Arsenal’s captain and signing a new five-year contract on Friday, Odegaard was Ronaldo’s team-mate at Real Madrid, spending two years directly alongside him before a series of loan spells. He was one of the youngest players.
During an interview with BT Sport in November 2015, Ronaldo named the now Gunners captain as one of five future stars to look out for in the future.
“I will mention Martin Odegaard of Madrid for example, at 16 he’s still young but you can see he’s a very good player,” the football hero declared. “He’s a great player, I think he’s a young boy, he can still grow.
“He has a good future ahead. We must give him time to learn, to take his best decisions. But I see a lot of potential in the player, he has got a good left foot.”
After different loan spells, Arsenal boss, Mikel Arteta managed to keep the Norwegian in the club on a permanent basis, and there is no match where he does not impress.
Speaking about his move to the big club, Odegaard talked about his feelings when arriving in Madrid.
“All I’m thinking is about how these guys will treat me when I walk into their dressing room. This little kid who didn’t speak any Spanish,” he said.
“But they were all very kind and the ones who spoke English – [Toni] Kroos, [Luka] Modric, Ronaldo – took extra care of me in the beginning. They gave me advice and helped me a lot. But, honestly, I don’t think any of them were particularly worried about a 16-year-old from Norway taking their place in the team.”
