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Sid loweWriter from Spain
Most of the players say that going to Real Madrid is a dream; Martin Odegaard called it “no drama.” The truth is that it was not what he wanted, not yet, but when the phone rang in August 2020 he had no choice but to return to Valdebebas and the club he had joined five years earlier when he was 16 years old. age. Five months later, he has left again: signing for Arsenal on loan.
In summer he will return, or so they say. And then you can start over. For now, though, he’s gone, taking a sense of lost opportunity and stalled development with him, perhaps a touch of regret as well. The most disappointing thing about Odegaard’s departure is that it was so predictable and so avoidable. If only they had stuck to the original plan. If only there had been a plan.
Real Madrid had agreed that Odegaard would join Real Sociedad on loan for two years. “Martinxo”, they told him, and he was happy there, not only because Donosti could be the most beautiful city in Spain and he lived a few steps from Ondarreta beach. Until blocking, he was arguably the best player in La Liga, a midfielder of vision, touch and mobility.
At 22, he had time on his side and was improving rapidly. He was in the perfect place in the Society, he gave responsibility and opportunity, the opportunity to lead. There was a coach who understood young players, a team full of talent and ambition, driven and emerging together, and an atmosphere like I had never experienced before. A place he planned to be for another year, at least.
But then, in August, Real Madrid lost to Manchester City in the Champions League. There was no money for transfers, but there was a “transfer” they could do for free: one of the best players in the league – after the lockdown, it is true that Odegaard’s impact had diminished – was theirs contractually. They had agreed to two years: the real He had wanted it, he had wanted it and Madrid had wanted it. But now, they decided to shorten it.
“I got a call from Madrid saying they wanted me to come back,” Odegaard said while on international service in late 2020. “It was natural and it was done quickly. It wasn’t a drama. There wasn’t a big discussion.” Asked if he spoke with Zidane replied: “Yes. Both he and the club loved me, and that’s what happened. They wanted him and we did.”
He was hardly giddy with excitement.
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It had happened overnight, without warning. The Real Sociedad had been left “orphaned”, in the words of the lateral Nacho Monreal. The sports director admitted that they had been “caught on the wrong foot” and that the withdrawal had “hurt” us. When the idea that the loan contract could be interrupted was raised a couple of months earlier, when someone suggested that Madrid could unilaterally withdraw Odegaard, he said: “there are some agreements that go beyond someone’s word.”
Now Odegaard was gone. The realThe response was quick – David Silva signed and joined in 24 hours – and all they could do was wish the Norwegian well, which they did. It had performed superbly for them and was popular too. They had been happy and so was he. So much so that once he decided to leave Madrid this week, everyone’s first thought, yours and theirs, was let’s get back together.
Forget hindsight, that wonderful easy coin we all trade; Even then, the day he returned, you wondered if it was the right time, if there was enough reason to break the original plan. He hoped the opportunities were real, that there was a plan for him. He doubted that things could be the same, that there was a genuine possibility of continuity, the patience to put it into practice. He also doubted the official speech: that Zidane had demanded it.
And so, with some inevitability, it turned out.
This week, Martin Odegaard told Real Madrid that he wanted to leave. I wanted to play; I didn’t want to wait. The last time we saw him was running up the field alone and after the game, training alone. It had started only three times. He hasn’t played the full 90 minutes once. In total, he has been on the pitch for just 242 minutes this season. There have been no goals, no assists. At this stage last season, he had played all but two games, scored four goals and provided five assists. Only Mariano Díaz, Eder Militao, Luka Jovic, Alvaro Odriozola and Andriy Lunin have played less.
That was always a possible outcome, though probably not to this extent. Real Madrid is different; competition is more intense, opportunities are rare, and continuity even rarer. Patience can be a virtue, but they don’t have time or space for personal development.
Odegaard had a chance to start: His three league starts were Sept. 20 and 26, the first two games, and Nov. 21. However, he admitted that they had not discussed his position or where he could perform better. The role of number 10 does not really exist in Madrid, as many players have discovered before him; the position and role that allows players to shine and attracts Madrid in the first place is the one they are least likely to give you when you arrive. You don’t build a team around you at the Bernabéu.
There are other reasons he hasn’t played since: there was a knee injury and also a positive COVID-19 test. Zidane wanted Odegaard to come back, says the official line; it was the coach. However, that was in the context of the inability to hire anyone else, rather than the demands of a manager determined to make him the centerpiece of his project. And in the absence of Odegaard, the team took shape without him.
There’s also a simple truth: If the men competing with you for a spot are Toni Kroos and Luka Modric, your chances will be limited. If Modric refuses to grow old and performs as he has this season, forget it. And so a familiar-looking team emerged, which is something that creates tension between the club and its coach, another reason why coming back might not have been the right play at the right time and with the right people. That, in turn, reveals an internal tension, a disconnect between planning and playing, between now and the next. Between construction and competition. How to find the right time to move on, when to renew. Is not easy.
Meanwhile, things slide. Progress slows or regresses. Tomorrow never comes, plans are not carried out because they cannot be, because first there is a lot to do; the stakes are high. And then even now it seems less secure. A feeling of uncertainty persists, perhaps even decadence. In El País, David Alvarez quotes a quote from the philosopher Antonio Gramsci that sums it up quite well: “the old is dying and the new cannot be born; a great variety of morbid symptoms appear in this interregnum”.
That new generation cannot come together completely.
Here, Odegaard is just another example. The financial reality has seen a change in Madrid’s policy: their focus is now on signing the youngest players, those who will be the best, not so much those who already are. But for a player to be the best, they not only have to identify them, they have to play. And few of those who have come to Madrid have. Instead, there are familiar faces in the field. Old.
When Zidane returned to Real Madrid, he said he would make changes, but in terms of personnel, it has not been many. The team that won the league was not a new team, nor was it one that was rotating. Eight players started more than 20 league games, and all were already at the club. If at the beginning of the season it was felt so often that Madrid needed Fede Valverde, the only player who gave them life, and while Vinicius Jr. had decisive moments, in the end, it was a title won by the old guard: Thibaut Courtois, Dani Carvajal, Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane, Ferland Mendy, Casemiro, Kroos, Modric and Karim Benzema were the backbone of almost every XI.
They still are.
In recent weeks Lucas Vázquez and Marco Asensio have joined. Only Mendy is new, a player who was not there the day Zidane returned. Only he and Courtois hadn’t played in the 2018 Champions League final. Money was spent and a lot, transfers were made, but their impact was limited. Eden Hazard, their most expensive player in history, has battled injuries and done next to nothing.
In Hazard’s case, it’s not due to lack of opportunity: Zidane plays it whenever he can. Others might argue that it is. Brahim Díaz is in Milan, Achraf Hakimi at Inter, Dani Ceballos at Arsenal, Sergio Reguilon at Spurs. They all left looking for minutes not offered at Madrid, an opportunity to prove their worth.
Luka Jovic returned to Germany and scored more goals in 28 minutes than in a year and a half in Spain. Gareth Bale and James Rodríguez are a different case, but they too are gone. Marcos Llorente has gone to Atlético, where he has been a revelation. Even Valverde and Vinicius have slipped on one side. Valverde has started less than half of the games, Vinicius the same. Rodrygo has started just four times in the league. Mariano has played 207 minutes. Odriozola has played 57. Youth development is not happening.
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So here comes the debate: are those players not good enough for Madrid? Has recruitment failed? Or would they be playing if they could? The club certainly blames Zidane, who of course they would. Or at least, they question his reluctance to hug certain footballers. They distrust, and even resent, their faith in their players and their lack in others. But it is he who has to get results, not them. And well, it does. This is Real Madrid, not a shooting school.
You can also ask yourself: would he really play Ceballos or Odegaard over Modric? Odriozola on Carvajal? Jovic or Mariano on Benzema? And this is the team that won the league, remember.
“It’s hard to play regularly if you’re under 24,” Ceballos said. Odegaard knew it. He had not yet planned to be back in Madrid, and even less pressured for it. They called, he left. It was early, probably too early, but maybe it would work. “No drama,” he called it.
But it became one.
“It’s easy to say it’s the coach’s fault,” Zidane said last week. “But you have to prove yourself with the competition here, which is fierce. You have to prove it.”
Odegaard did it at the Royal Society. Now you will try to do it again.
