Leonid Slutsky has praised Martin Odegaard after seeing him develop into a ‘crucial’ player for Arsenal having struggled at Real Madrid.
Odegaard is a fascinating case study in terms of a young player making a huge move early in his career.
The playmaker was a top wonderkid with Stromsgodset and had half of Europe chasing his signature.
Real Madrid won the race in 2015, paying millions to sign Odegaard at the age of just 16.
It was all a little too much, too soon though and Odegaard failed to really shine even in Real Madrid’s Castilla side.
Leonid Slutsky has praised Martin Odegaard
An 18-month loan at Heerenveen didn’t exactly help Odegaard, managing just four goals in 43 games.
Things started to change at Vitesse Arnhem though, where Odegaard hit 11 goals in 39 games under Leonid Slutsky.
Slutsky has now spoken to Fabrizio Romano about Odegaard, telling all about the playmaker on the Here We Go Podcast.
The Russian boss noted that Odegaard’s move to Real just wasn’t a success for him and they seemingly had no plans other than send him out on loan again and again.
That’s why it took Odegaard a while to get going, with Slutsky suggesting that the Norwegian was in the most dangerous period of his carer when he arrived at Vitesse.
Slutsky added that Odegaard is possibly the most intelligent player he has ever worked with and hopes to see Odegaard finish in the top three this season.
“Historically, he didn’t have a good contact with Real,” said Slutsky. “They bought him for fantastic money, Martin was the most expensive teenager in the world, he had a lot of expectation, a lot of everything but not successful; first loan, second loan, third loan, fourth loan. It was always loan, loan, loan.”
“He’s very clever – maybe the most clever player that I’ve worked with. When we started to work, he was not successful on loan twice, but we started step by step. He’s a top professional”
“I’m really very proud because it was maybe the most dangerous moment in his career when we met together and he’s also very thankful. When we are talking he is always talking ‘coach, thank you, thank you, thank you.’”
“For me, he is very intelligent, very creative and for me, he can play in each level. Right now, he is captain and one of the best players at Arsenal. Arsenal, I hope, will be a top three club in England and it means automatically that he is a very important and crucial player for one of the best teams in the world,” he added.
After playing for Vitesse, Odegaard thrived on loan at Real Sociedad before his loan to Arsenal turned permanent in 2021.
Odegaard finally has a real home now and has already scored three times in six games this season.
After just eight league appearances at Real Madrid, Odegaard is finally living up to that early potential – and Arsenal are reaping the rewards.
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