Martin Odegaard asks to leave Real Madrid

Posted Wednesday, January 20, 2021 by Marca.com

Martin Odegaard asks to leave Real Madrid
Odegaard and Zidane Pablo Garcia / MARCA

There has been a radical turn with regards to Martin Odegaard's situation at Real Madrid, with the Norwegian international having sensationally requested to leave the Spanish giants.

Having shone with Real Sociedad last season and being recalled early by Los Blancos, his lack of minutes under Zinedine Zidane has been a huge source of frustration for the player, and he isn't willing to put up with it any longer.

After Odegaard was ruled out of the Copa del Rey tie with Alcoyano, it appeared as though the writing was on the wall for the gifted playmaker.

Over the course of the entire 2020/21 season to this point, Odegaard has been on the pitch for a paltry total of 367 minutes, which has forced him to demand a new loan move.

Zidane wants to retain the former Heerenveen star due to the shortage of central players in attacking areas within his squad, yet that appears more as an act of crisis-planning than a real desire to use Odegaard's talent.

The problem Real Madrid have with this request is the message it sends out, Odegaard was technically the only signing the club made in the summer, even though he was returning from a highly successful loan spell.

He had established himself as one of the premier chance-creators in LaLiga Santander and was expected to return to Los Merengues to actually be a guaranteed first team player.

In truth, that's what he should be, and you have to suggest that looking at his age, Real Madrid can't afford to loan him too many times.

He's either a Real Madrid quality player or he isn't, he's too valuable an asset to just keep handing to other teams on a temporary basis, especially when Florentino Perez is determined to cut costs and raise funds.

Injuries aside, Zidane hasn't counted on Odegaard when he has been available and the player has noted and remembered that, this crisis has been months in the making and there needs to be a long think behind the scenes in Madrid at just what the club want to do with Odegaard.