Smack me sideways, no one saw that coming.
He's already made an absolute fortune on his Madrid move, could probably retire at 21...
If he's losing his desire at 17 he's in trouble. Hopefully not though.
Well then you will be surprised because he's not 'just another wonderkid'. He's an exceptionally amazing talent. To expect him to be producing anything world class at this age is too much.
werent all wonderkids exceptionally amazing talents? Wonderkids get called wonderkids because of that
He's 18 and he's had about 10m so far, if you won the lottery would you keep your desire to be the best in your field? Too much money too young these days sadly, happened to Adnan and many others.
No. Wonderkids are given the tag because they possess potential to be world class. Not because they are ready to produce world class consistency right now.
Well there's also many examples of players who keep up motivation and continues to progress. It's a bit sad if this happens as we don't see many talented players in Norway.
I wouldn't have said so, look at the impact Rashford made at 18 and now Mbappe. When Odegaard was 15 he looked as good as it gets for that age group. Now he is 18 there are many players ahead of him.
Why? Exceptionally amazing talents like Rashford and Mbappé are doing just fine
I get what you are saying and although I agree with the sentiment there is a part of me that thinks he was right to go to Madrid - the reason being that at the age of 16 there is no guarantee you will make it as a professional footballer, no matter how talented you are, you could get a serious injury, you could not develop as expected, etc., etc. In that context I think it could be seen as a great decision to go to Madrid at that age and get set-up for life financially when your stock is possibly at the highest it will ever be as a footballer.
That's the attitude of a player who doesn't totally believe in his ability though. If he was honestly wanting to become one of the worlds best players then you need to play first team football during your teenage years to develop. Not be stuck at youth level or getting farmed out on loan to SC Heerenveen. He should have picked a club a tier below Madrid.
I know what you mean but I think if it was my son or if I was the kid I'd have gone to Madrid for the reasons I stated - you could turn what you said on it's head and say that perhaps he went to Madrid because he believed in his ability so much he felt he could break into the first team within a year or two.
I would have gone to a Europa League / Champions League (minor club) if it was me. Still get the publicity/experience from playing in Europe and developing my skills as a teenager while playing first team football. Lets face it, he'd still get paid solid money at these clubs and still be motivated (which is an issue for some players) to get to the top tier. It's not even like those clubs would refuse a big money offer either from a top tier club when he reaches 18/19.
Odegaard earns £80k a week. Becoming a 'good' player will be seen as a massive failure.
Lingard earns 20k more then him.
I fully agree mate. It's all well and good saying you should go somewhere to develop properly, but as a footballer, especially a young one, one bad injury and that's that for your career at the top. At the end of the day it is a job, and in the real world the money you earn is more important than prestige, only in the sphere of football is titles etc as important. If i were in his position and I had the choice between going to Madrid and being set for life, or going to a smaller club, earning significantly less but developing more, I know which option I would choose.
Bebe is far better than Adu. United wasn't his level but he has done alright in midtable teams from Portugal and Spain. It wasn't his fault that United got duped by Mendes. Adu was confortably one of the worst players i saw playing at Benfica. And they had some really crappy players in the past such as Steve Harkness, Scott Minto, Michael Thomas or Gary Charles. He couldn't hack it at Belenenses either. So much slower and less technically gifted than the average portuguese league player.
That is a statement of fact.
And which EL/CL club would have given first team football to a 16 years old, exactly? At real madrid, he got in the third/4th division of spanish football.
Not really, don't think there's many players out there that would have earned a 10 million pounds by the time they were 18! The players at the top of the game are in the small minority of those that have the desire to improve and don't lose that when they get the money.
I mean one could argue, why would you wanna put in that sort of dedication when you have $10million?
I agree with you, if I won the lottery I'd be on perma vacation! It's why you see a lot of South American players good to China etc, I don't blame them because it takes a special kind of character to become condo in life and still have that desire to improve yourself, I know for a fact I don't have it, just a question of if Odegaard has it.
I can already think of... Havertz, Pusilic, Passlack, Upamecano, Mbappe, Sarr they were given games as 17/18 year olds. Sure there are more, but that would require checking a bit more.
Regular first team football?
He was playing regularly for Strømsgodset in the Norwegian top division. In fact, he was the best player in the entire league in his final season. He would definitely have gotten regular first team football in a better team in a better league if he chose more wisely and didn't regress.Problem is which teams would he start in? Realistically I couldn't see him starting in the PL, even with Sunderland for example because he surely wouldn't be strong enough physically? Plus most of the PL managers seem a bit crap with playing genuine youth players.
