Martin Odegaard is somehow still a teenager. It feels like he’s been around forever now.The Norwegian playmaker caught the attention of Europe’s top clubs back in 2014, when he was just 15 years old, after making his first-team debut for Stromsgodset.He went on to train with various clubs - including Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Manchester United - before agreeing to sign for Real Madrid in January 2015.Odegaard, who cost Madrid an initial €3 million, went on to make his first-team debut for Los Blancos five months later, on the final day of the season against Getafe.Carlo Ancelotti would later describe Odegaard’s first-team debut as a ‘PR exercise’ and it would be another 679 days, in November 2016, before he finally made his first start for the Spanish giants.Those are Odegaard’s only two competitive first-team appearances for Madrid to date.The 19-year-old has spent time on loan with Heerenveen over the past two seasons and now finds himself plying his trade for another Dutch side, Vitesse, until the end of the 2018-19 campaign.
How has Odegaard been getting on at Vitesse?
But how has he been getting on over in the Eredivisie this season? Little has been said about him in recent weeks, so we’ve done some digging to find out.
Well, we know that he’s failed to score in eight appearances for Vitesse, who are currently fifth in the Eredivisie table, which is hardly the most promising start.
But one Real Madrid fan has been running a Twitter thread which gives us a clearer picture about how he’s getting on in the Netherlands.
AZ Alkmaar
WhoScored rating: 5.95
His debut was only a brief cameo appearance,
Ajax
WhoScored rating: 6.92
Some decent stats there considering he was only on the pitch for 45 minutes. Vitesse, however, lost the game 4-0.
PEC Zwolle
WhoScored rating: 6.91
Vitesse won 2-0 on Odegaard’s first start but the stats suggest he wasn’t that involved.
ADO Den Haag
WhoScored rating: 6.23
Subbed off midway through the second half, this was Odegaard’s most disappointing performance for Vitesse so far.
Heracles
WhoScored rating: 7.78
A much-improved performance. Fifty-nine touches, including two key passes and one assist.
Excelsior
WhoScored rating: 7.53
Another encouraging display, Odegaard made five key passes as Vitesse recorded a 2-0 victory.
Fortuna Sittard
WhoScored rating: 6.99
The Madrid loanee was less impressive in his most recent outing for Vitesse but still played the full 90 minutes.
You can watch his individual highlights from that match here…
Curiously, we did find one tweet from a Vitesse fan who seems less than impressed with what he’s seen from Odegaard so far.
He sarcastically tweeted Real Madrid if they would consider taking Odegaard back following their 5-1 defeat against Barcelona at the weekend.
Asked if Odegaard had been bad for Vitesse, he simply replied: “Yes”.
He's clearly still miles off Real Madrid's first team
However, the stats suggest he hasn’t been terrible. Perhaps just a little inconsistent.
Either way, it’s fair to assume that he’s still nowhere near the standard required to force his way into Real Madrid’s first team.
If he was scoring or creating goals for Vitesse every week, then it would be a different story.
But the fact he’s been rather average for his current loan club speaks volumes.
Will Martin Odegaard ever be good enough for Real Madrid? Have your say below.