Januzaj and Odegaard's development

[Luke1995]

They burst into the scene at a very young age with plenty of media coverage and fan's expectations generated, but their speed of progression when at Manchester United and Real Madrid respectively, was rather slow compared to guys like Mbappe, Haaland, Neymar,and a few others who appeared to adapt faster to playing with older, stronger and more technical players than they used to in their youth systems. Januzaj had to go to Dortmund, having a very hard time adapting to the German League, and then to Sunderland, where he showed flashes of the talent we had seen from him at United, but didn't quite end up developing all that much there, although on the mental side, it certainly appears to have helped him. When people were ready to write him off as another wasted young talent, he had a good World Cup in 2018 and kicked off from there finally doing very well at a club for an extended time, at Sociedad.

Odegaard, after a few years playing in Madrid Castilla without much improvement, went to Netherlands and started developing further in Herenveen, and then, in Vitesse, where he catched Real Sociedad's attention. Now, they are about to play in a Copa del Rey final and are once again being looked as players to keep an eye on by fans who perhaps didn't quite believe in them after what happened earlier in their careers.

What are your thoughts on their careers so far and expectations for the future ? How long will Sociedad manage to keep them for ?

 

[LawCharltonBest]

Doesn’t Ødegaard still play for Madrid?

 

[mu4c_20le]

Doesn’t Ødegaard still play for Madrid?

Not really, the last time he played for them was over 4 years ago. Hopefully they let him go this summer.

 

[bosnian_red]

Odegaard is just on loan, but hes developing pretty normally. The hype was at too early of an age to ever explode right away.
Januzaj is pretty average still. Not really a starter for them.

 

[GatoLoco]

Not really, the last time he played for them was over 4 years ago. Hopefully they let him go this summer.

I think he will stay one more year on loan at Real Sociedad and then go back to Real Madrid. He's too good not to get a main role there.

 

[Bobski]

We expect too much too early from young players, most of them are not ready to contribute consistently in key roles until around 23/24. This is especially true if they break through earlier than normal, say 18 rather than 20, we seem to expect them to skip some of the developmental process and be the finished article earlier. Some are, outliers, the elite but most need a little extra seasoning.

Look at Rashford, some were not far from writing him off at the start of the season, and he is still only 22.

 

[Kostur]

How is playing 1k minutes and having 6 goals (3 against some low tier side in CdR) 4 assists doing 'very well' at Sociedad for Januzaj?

 

[Tom Cato]

They burst into the scene at a very young age with plenty of media coverage and fan's expectations generated, but their speed of progression when at Manchester United and Real Madrid respectively, was rather slow compared to guys like Mbappe, Haaland, Neymar,and a few others who appeared to adapt faster to playing with older, stronger and more technical players than they used to in their youth systems. Januzaj had to go to Dortmund, having a very hard time adapting to the German League, and then to Sunderland, where he showed flashes of the talent we had seen from him at United, but didn't quite end up developing all that much there, although on the mental side, it certainly appears to have helped him. When people were ready to write him off as another wasted young talent, he had a good World Cup in 2018 and kicked off from there finally doing very well at a club for an extended time, at Sociedad.

Odegaard, after a few years playing in Madrid Castilla without much improvement, went to Netherlands and started developing further in Herenveen, and then, in Vitesse, where he catched Real Sociedad's attention. Now, they are about to play in a Copa del Rey final and are once again being looked as players to keep an eye on by fans who perhaps didn't quite believe in them after what happened earlier in their careers.

What are your thoughts on their careers so far and expectations for the future ? How long will Sociedad manage to keep them for ?

Januzaj peaks this season. He's a good player but i don't think he'll become more than a good player on a decent team. A relatively forgettable team contributor once his career passes. Nothing wrong with that, but he's not a tier-1 footballing star. Its clear in hindsight that expectations were way overblown. Januzaj is 25 and will belong to the extremely few outliers who broke through after that age, if he's to make further development strides.

Ødegaard is one of the best players in La Liga. His development curve has hit Haaland levels the last year. I was genuinely skeptical since the Real Castilla stay didn't appear to amount to anything, in combinating with along history if Norwegian talent leaving the country, unable to even crack the starting XI of the team they are joining. Take Alexander Sørloth (bought from Midjylland in Denmark, but Norwegian so Ill count it) latest. Couldn't crack the Crystal Palace starting XI, Has fortunately found new life in the Turkish Super League.

My dream is that Ødegaard is packaged in a deal for Pogba. Unfortunately, the player himself has openly expressed that his goal is Santiago Bernabeu, and I don't see a universe in which Real Marid parts with a player that will likely surpass Pogba any full moon now. 3 MotM awards this season so far for Ødegaard in La Liga, including a dominant performance last game v Real Madrid.

My expectations for Januzaj is to have a nice, quiet and very servicable career at a team like Real Sociedad.
My expectations for Ødegaard is to take over for Luka Modric and be part of a new decade of Real Madrid greats.
My dream is for Manchester United to acquire Ødegaard and stick him next to Bruno Fernandes.

 

[FootballHQ]

Januzaj has had a run of starts recently. He's a squad player at a club who could well win a trophy and finish top 4 so similar to the Man. United level post Fergie.

Odegaard has done well choosing his loan moves. Think the loan to Hereenveen really kicked him on. Pretty sure he could've gone to Ajax but obviously wanted to stay in Spain and impress Real Madrid closer to home.

Isak is another example btw of player who could've easily stayed at Dortmund but chose to leave and he's really developing now into a fantastic all round striker starting week in week out.

Perhaps it shows how unambitious some U.K players are somtimes, content to bench warm at big clubs until they're 21 or even 22. Was going to mention Foden but he is still 18. A player of his quality should be starting week in week out somewhere though.

Loftus Cheek is probably better example. Been injured all season but he is 24 now so he must be regular starter at Chelsea when he gets up to speed otherwise it's time to move on I think.

 

[Luke1995]

How is playing 1k minutes and having 6 goals (3 against some low tier side in CdR) 4 assists doing 'very well' at Sociedad for Januzaj?

I meant that it seemed to me that at Sociedad he was doing better than in previous clubs...at least when I watched him, his playing style seemed better...

 

[Luke1995]

Januzaj peaks this season. He's a good player but i don't think he'll become more than a good player on a decent team. A relatively forgettable team contributor once his career passes. Nothing wrong with that, but he's not a tier-1 footballing star. Its clear in hindsight that expectations were way overblown. Januzaj is 25 and will belong to the extremely few outliers who broke through after that age, if he's to make further development strides.

Ødegaard is one of the best players in La Liga. His development curve has hit Haaland levels the last year. I was genuinely skeptical since the Real Castilla stay didn't appear to amount to anything, in combinating with along history if Norwegian talent leaving the country, unable to even crack the starting XI of the team they are joining. Take Alexander Sørloth (bought from Midjylland in Denmark, but Norwegian so Ill count it) latest. Couldn't crack the Crystal Palace starting XI, Has fortunately found new life in the Turkish Super League.

My dream is that Ødegaard is packaged in a deal for Pogba. Unfortunately, the player himself has openly expressed that his goal is Santiago Bernabeu, and I don't see a universe in which Real Marid parts with a player that will likely surpass Pogba any full moon now. 3 MotM awards this season so far for Ødegaard in La Liga, including a dominant performance last game v Real Madrid.

My expectations for Januzaj is to have a nice, quiet and very servicable career at a team like Real Sociedad.
My expectations for Ødegaard is to take over for Luka Modric and be part of a new decade of Real Madrid greats.
My dream is for Manchester United to acquire Ødegaard and stick him next to Bruno Fernandes.

Well that was a very good read. Thank you. I was not aware that Januzaj was that far behind Odegaard in development... maybe because I still viewed him as a youngster trying to breakthrough...

 

[mu4c_20le]

Ødegaard is one of the best players in La Liga.

He isn't. Maybe in terms of potential, as he is looking quite good in his first season at a top league, and has lifted a mediocre side. Portu and Oyarzabal both have more goals and more assists in less minutes, and also 3 motm's. Odegaard has better passing and is more influential because they set up the team around him.

My dream is that Ødegaard is packaged in a deal for Pogba. Unfortunately, the player himself has openly expressed that his goal is Santiago Bernabeu, and I don't see a universe in which Real Marid parts with a player that will likely surpass Pogba any full moon now. 3 MotM awards this season so far for Ødegaard in La Liga, including a dominant performance last game v Real Madrid.

Maybe you meant blue moon.. Odegaard is just starting to look like the hype but is still a few seasons away from being close to a half-arsed Pogba. On paper he looks like the natural successor to Modric, but it's not gonna happen for another two years at least.

Januzaj always had the talent, but never the mentality or drive to succeed.

 

[passing-wind]

I've seen Odegaard in a few fixtures this season and personally think he's overrated in terms of his hype but the height of his potential is understated. If he continues to develop I reckon he will blossom into a very good no 10. Those suggesting for us to exchange him with Pogba I don't think it represents a good value considering Pogba irrespective of opinions is one of the very best midfielders in world football.

 

[Sarni]

Januzaj is still pretty average, his hype was overblown because of how miserable that season was and people were looking for any positives. BTW since we are talking about former players who were once highly rated, Macheda seems to have recovered his career a bit - he’s at Panathinaikos scoring 1 goal per 2 games now which is good. He was in Serie B before.

 

[Handré1990]

He isn't. Maybe in terms of potential, as he is looking quite good in his first season at a top league, and has lifted a mediocre side. Portu and Oyarzabal both have more goals and more assists in less minutes, and also 3 motm's. Odegaard has better passing and is more influential because they set up the team around him.


Maybe you meant blue moon.. Odegaard is just starting to look like the hype but is still a few seasons away from being close to a half-arsed Pogba. On paper he looks like the natural successor to Modric, but it's not gonna happen for another two years at least.

Januzaj always had the talent, but never the mentality or drive to succeed.

He actually is, or was (haven’t looked at the rankings for a month or so) one of the best players in La Liga, and has been for most of the season. Imo he will become a better player than Pogba within a couple of years. I would love to make that swap, but I don’t see RM going for it. He will dictate their play for years if he can avoid injuries.

 

[Tom Cato]

He isn't. Maybe in terms of potential, as he is looking quite good in his first season at a top league, and has lifted a mediocre side. Portu and Oyarzabal both have more goals and more assists in less minutes, and also 3 motm's. Odegaard has better passing and is more influential because they set up the team around him.


Maybe you meant blue moon.. Odegaard is just starting to look like the hype but is still a few seasons away from being close to a half-arsed Pogba. On paper he looks like the natural successor to Modric, but it's not gonna happen for another two years at least.

Januzaj always had the talent, but never the mentality or drive to succeed.

He's in the top10 rankings in the advanced player ratings this season in La Liga. That being said, I watch about half of Real Sociedads matches. I'll say this, Ødegaard was phenomenal the first 2/3 of the current season, and has been a bit more hit and miss the last 1/3. He's been injured and still finding form after that. Oyarzabal has more minutes, but no need to split hairs. To be fair, Real Sociedad builds their play through Diego Llorente and then up the chain. Ødegaard IS key to the last half of the team buildup, sure.

There is a reasonable argument that Ødegaard SHOULD have more assits than he does, but he's just been unlucky with his teammates end-result. Ødegaar has 2.3 Key passes per game. A statistic only triumphed by Leo Messi, who has 2.5 pr game. The difference here is that Messi has 12 assists, whereas Ødegaard has 5. This means that the end result from Ødegaard passes are quite inferior to the end result from a Messi pass, or in this context, the quality of his teammates. Obviously Suarez is a better striker than isak, for example. Messis A stat is a bit inflated by his massive 4.8~ Shots per game that must have inevitably lead to some rebound assits but i havent actually verified that.

Ødegaard DOES have 8 assists on the season if we include Copa del Rey. Ødegaard is 7G8A, Oyarzabal 9G 7A, Portu 7G6A

Ødegaards KeyP of 2.3 simply means that he's played the final ball to a teammate for a shot on goal, or a shot that misses the goal.

So what is fair to conclude with so far is that:

Oyarzabal and Portu both shoot better than Ødegaard currently, with greater shot accuracy.
Oyarzabal and Portu has a disproportionate number of assists compared to Ødegaard.
Ødegaard is a better individualist, with 2.4 completed dribbles per game, 5th in La Liga. Oyarzabal IS right behind at 8th with 2.2.

When discussing Ødegaard its only fair to point out that Oyarzabal has had one of the best individual seasons in La Liga this year as well. Real Sociedad are in the CL race and a cup final upcoming. Oyarzabal and Ødegaard have been key to that. Abolute key. Portu is more of an opportunist in this discussion.

So I'll stand by my assessment. Martin Ødegaard is one of the best players in La Liga this season. And I meant full moon.