Celtic should perhaps consider a summer loan move for Real Madrid starlet Martin Odegaard.
With Patrick Roberts set to return to Manchester City, Charly Musonda struggling to make an impact and questions over Tom Rogic’s Celtic future – as reported by the Daily Record – strengthening the Hoops’ options high up the field looks set to be an important piece of business for Brendan Rodgers to address this summer.
The Bhoys look to be on course for another domestic Treble this season, but even the most optimistic of Celtic fans would struggle to suggest that this campaign has been anywhere near as impressive as last year – apart from the fact that they managed to finish third in another incredibly difficult Champions League group.
Rodgers may therefore, need to make a big statement during the summer window if he hopes to prove to his key players that Celtic have not reached their ceiling and can progress further in the coming years. And that should perhaps tempt the Hoops to make a loan bid for one of the brightest prospects in Europe.
Martin Odegaard made his senior debut at 15 – while Ronny Deila was in charge of Stromsgodset – and was one of the most highly-sought after names in the world before ultimately deciding to make the move to Real Madrid, with The Telegraph reporting in 2015 that he was earning £80,000 a week with Los Blancos.
It appeared for a while that Odegaard may suffer from what should perhaps be known as ‘Freddy Adu-itis’ and never quite be able to live up to the hype having only made a couple of appearances for Madrid’s first-team and having not exactly pulled up any trees for Castilla.
However, his loan move to Eredivisie side Heerenveen appears to have got the 19-year-old Norway international back on track and he is once again threatening to be an incredible talent in the future.
He may not be ready for Madrid’s first-team though, and that should tempt Celtic to make a loan bid for the teenager in the summer, especially as Zinedine Zidane previously told the Daily Record that Parkhead was the best place for Olivier Ntcham.
Those kind of comments just hint that he would look at allowing Odegaard to move to Celtic on loan as a smart move as he would be playing regularly and would stand a decent chance of getting some Champions League experience under his belt.
Celtic would need Madrid to pay most of his wages, but it is difficult to imagine that Heerenveen have been paying a large chunk of his salary anyway so that may not be a problem – especially if Zidane feels that a move to the Hoops would be particularly beneficial for the prospect.
It feels as though Rodgers needs to pull off something inspired during the summer after a somewhat underwhelming season. Perhaps bringing Odegaard in on loan could be exactly the kind of move that will see him capture the imagination once again.
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