A full Norway international aged 15, Martin Odegaard was used to the hype. But as photographers circled and film crews jostled at his Real Madrid unveiling, there was a sense the awkward kid in a stripey jumper was a teenage superstar struck by the galactico glare.
More than 30 clubs around Europe made enquiries for Odegaard while he was a youngster at Stromsgodset in Norway, and he visited the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and, of course, Real.
"We got flown around in private planes and were made to feel special," Odegaard later wrote in the Players' Tribune., external.Stian Lund, Stromsgodset's academy director, accompanied the teenager, his father and two other young players from the club on one trip to Manchester City in 2013.
"We stayed there for 10 days," Lund tells BBC Sport. "I remember the report after he trained and played an Under-15s match, even though he was a year younger. The last sentence was: 'We need to sign this player!'"
European champions Real Madrid eventually won the battle for the 16-year-old's signature, with Odegaard telling the assembled media at his first news conference in the Spanish capital the La Liga giants represented the best opportunity for him to "develop as a footballer".
But five-and-a-half years later, when Odegaard left Madrid permanently to join Arsenal in August 2021 for £30m, he did so having appeared in just 11 first-team games for Real, totalling 489 minutes, without a goal or assist and having been sent out on four different loan spells, including to north London.On Tuesday, in the Champions League quarter-finals, Odegaard will face his former side for the first time since leaving the Bernabeu on a permanent basis four years ago, proudly flexing the captain's armband when he leads the Gunners out at Emirates Stadium. He has been such a success at Arsenal, it begs the question as to why it did not work out in Madrid.
Lund first saw Odegaard when he was 10 years old and remembers a "very tiny" kid with "amazing ball control". "I could see he was an extraordinary talent," he adds.
Just three years later, aged 13, the youngster began gaining wider attention after impressing during a first-team friendly for Stromsgodset during Ronny Deila's side's summer break as well as when training with the senior side.
Lund was also struck by his obsession with football. Odegaard would be at the clubhouse every day asking for a bag of balls to train with.Then, when he suffered a three-month injury setback aged 14, Odegaard proved his dedication and professionalism by meticulously following a recovery programme set by his uncle, Thomas, who was also the physiotherapist for the national team.
"He came every day to the clubhouse, riding on his bike from school," recalls Lund. "I was amazed. He never took any easy options. He didn't cheat on any exercises, did the exact number of repetitions. It was like watching a full-time international player. Not that he lifted that much, but he was so professional.''
Odegaard also had the backing of his father, Hans Erik, who spent a decade at Stromsgodset as a player and became a coach after his retirement.He would watch in the background "in the stands or behind the trees", until it was time to sign Odegaard's first professional contract at 15.
"Just if Stromsgodset are going to put all their effort into making Martin good, we need this in the contract that nobody, not the physical coach or fitness coach or physio, is going to tell him he can't train late today or the day after a game or anything - he will train as much as he wants.
The young Odegaard just wanted to play football. And for his part, that never changed even when returning from his many trips to train with top European clubs.
In pre-season 2014, Odegaard was handed more minutes with the first team - coming on late in games to gain experience.Yet when Lund and his staff crunched the numbers for goals, assists and pre-assists, they realised the 15-year-old's output was double that of the next best player.
He made his league debut in April, becoming the Norwegian top-flight's youngest player at 15 years and 118 days, and then its youngest scorer the following month.Odegaard went on to make 23 appearances in the league that season, scoring five goals and providing seven assists, and in August became Norway's youngest player at 15 years and 253 days.Dubbed one of Europe's wonderkids, the question wasn't 'if' he would leave Stromsgodset, but which of the continent's biggest clubs he would join.
Odegaard stepped off a flight from Norway and was whisked straight to the training ground for his medical and a news conference - dressed in the clothes he had thrown on that morning.
"I'm supposed to be this player that Real Madrid has beaten everyone to sign and I look like a random school kid they just pulled from the stadium tour," he later said.
There, the teenager signed for a reported fee of 3m euros, talked about how there was "no pressure" on him and he had come to develop as a footballer, whether that was with Real Madrid's first or second team, Castilla.
Odegaard's father was also offered a role coaching in Real Madrid's youth teams, while the fact they had a second team playing competitive football - which was managed by Zinedine Zidane at the time - was important to the youngster.
"He was introduced to the world's media as a teenage sensation, already earning a galactico-level salary," explains European football expert Guillem Balague.
Odegaard was to spend the majority of the week training with Carlo Ancelotti's European champions, a squad that included Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Karim Benzema and Toni Kroos.
Yet Odegaard continued to represent Norway, and made the first-team bench for Real in April against Almeria before coming on for his debut at the Bernabeu in the final game of the season, when he replaced Ronaldo in a 7-3 win over Getafe.
He started one game in the Copa del Rey, but in January 2017 Odegaard left for Heerenveen on an 18-month loan and remained in the Netherlands for a further season with Vitesse Arnhem, winning their player of the year award.
"Martin had some critics," says Lund, talking about his decision to join Real Madrid.
"Hans Erik managed the whole process and if you have competent people around you that is the best, because he doesn't have any financial intentions, he only had one intention and that is what is best for Martin.''
In summer 2019, yet to turn 21, Odegaard set out on his third loan. This time it was to Real Sociedad, where he proved he was ready for La Liga - including scoring at the Bernabeu as La Real knocked his parent club out of the Copa del Rey.
"That season at La Real, in particular, was a turning point," says Balague.
The Basques wanted him to stay another season, but Odegaard was beckoned back by Zidane to Madrid, where he started Real's first two games before struggling with a calf injury.
"Zidane gave him sporadic minutes, often out of position. By then, Odegaard had lost confidence - the rhythm and belief that made him stand out at Real Sociedad seemed to vanish.
"He wasn't helped by untimely fitness struggles. He was clearly short of his best. That moment, potentially his real audition, slipped through his fingers."
Having made just nine appearances in the first half of the season, a desire for first-team football led him to another loan move, this time to Arsenal.
That summer, after a productive spell in England, Odegaard returned to Madrid where Ancelotti had been reappointed manager.Balague says no guarantee or "clarity of continuity" regarding his playing time was the "final straw" behind Odegaard leaving the Spanish capital permanently in August 2021.
"He had a frank conversation with Ancelotti," explains Balague. "The Italian was honest: the competition would be fierce. In Odegaard's mind, that meant he wouldn't play. He wanted to feel important. To build something.
"Perhaps more importantly, there was a deeper disconnect. He never quite felt at home at Madrid."
Yet he never really found a home until he arrived at Arsenal. In north London, Odegaard was finally able to settle and Lund, who first watched him 16 years ago as a young kid at Stromsgodset, still proudly tunes in every week to watch him play.
"It is hard for me to look back and see he was going to be a captain for Arsenal," he explains.
"I would ask if you were drunk if you said that back then. But we all knew he was something special. He is a fantastic player, and an even better person."
Madina Mammadova\\EDnews
