Trouble in paradise
It's tough being a teenager. There is hair growing from parts of your body that you never knew possible, you are fending the women off with a stick and you have just signed for one of the biggest football clubs in the world. Well, we know what two of the above three feel like so we can just about imagine that Martin Odegaard's head is still spinning from signing for Real Madrid at the start of this year.
The teenager was linked with pretty much every club in the world in 2014, as he was dubbed the new Freddy Adu - only better and Norwegian. Eventually he put pen-to-paper for Los Blancos for a fee believed to be just under €5million.
Initially, things seemed to be going well for the youngster as he was playing for the Real Madrid Castilla B side managed by Zinedine Zidane, while also training with Real's first team, alongside Gareth Bale and Ronaldo. He was even included in Real's Champions League squad for a game with Schalke, but failed to make it onto the pitch.
However, it looks like things have gone a bit sour recently. He has been sensationally dropped by Zidane due to a number of poor results, and the team's form has actually improved when he was not been on the pitch.
When Odegaard signed in January, Castillla were top of the third division table, but when he started games they suffered a run of four straight losses and their promotion hopes faltered. Zidane decided to take the youngster out of the team. In his absence, they have made a push for the league title again with two consecutive wins.
Odegaard's links to the Real first team, where he is training at a different level to his teammates, as well as his large transfer fee have, seemingly, upset a number of his colleagues. According to today's
Daily Mail, the B team's promotion hopes will determine if he will be at Real next season or else sent out on loan.
Zidane is under pressure to provide him with plenty of game time before a possible move to the first team, proper, next season. However, the former France midfielder is unlikely to be bullied by the club's hierarchy when so close to promotion, which he sees as more important than the development of the 16-year-old in the short term.
