Cristiano Ronaldo tipped Martin Odegaard to become a world-class player when they shared the pitch at Real Madrid – a prediction which has since come true at Arsenal. The 26-year-old Norwegian broke through the youth system of Stromsgodset in 2013, before Los Blancos stunned the world by bringing the relatively unknown player to the Bernabeu in 2015 at the age of just 16 – becoming the club's youngest-ever first-team player. However, wonderkid Odegaard saw little action for the senior side during his stint in the Spanish capital, appearing on just 11 occasions while spending the most part of his tenure under Zinedine Zidane for the Castilla reserves side.
Odegaard never quite managed to break through into the main La Liga squad over his six-year tenure with Real Madrid, outclassed by the likes of experienced international pair Toni Kroos and Luka Modric. He was instead sent out on loan to the likes of Heerenveen, Vitesse, Real Sociedad and Arsenal to develop as a player.
Despite his small amount of game time for Real Madrid, Ronaldo quickly identified him as being a talent who would one day achieve great things. Speaking to BT Sport in 2015 while he was a Los Blancos player himself, Ronaldo explained: "You see many players with potential. I will mention Martin Odegaard of Madrid for example, at 16 he's still young but you can see he's a very good player." He continued: "He's a great player, I think he's a young boy, he can still grow.
