Odegaard officially on his way to Real Madrid

Posted Thursday, January 22, 2015 by Marca.com

Real Madrid and Stromsgodset have officially confirmed the agreement taking Martin Odegaard to the Bernabeu.

The starlet will be unveiled to the press at 13:30 (local time) on Thursday, having first undergone a medical. The club's director of institutional relations, Emilio Butragueno, will accompany the young Norwegian when he faces the media.

Odegaard felt right at home when he visited the Valdebebas training ground and Florentino Perez showing up also helped sway him. He was impressed to see the Real Madrid president roll his sleeves up and get his hands dirty to fight for a signing that he clearly had a personal interest in - just like the supremo did back in the day with the 'Galacticos', and more recently with Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale.

'Los Blancos' consider the move a coup, as the teenage sensation is one of the most highly rated prospects in European football and the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Liverpool all sought to snap him up. Indeed, the prodigy took the unprecedented step of embarking on a tour of several top clubs before making his decision.

Odegaard, a left-footed playmaker with fantastic ball control, is expected to begin his career in Madrid with the B-team, under the stewardship of another technical wizard, Zinedine Zidane. This will give him the chance to cut his teeth in the Spanish third division prior to making the step up or potentially going out on loan.