Since Ronny Deila came to Celtic the club has been linked with a move in one form or another for Martin Odegaard. When he was at Strømsgodset we were somehow put in a bracket with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich rightly or wrongly for clubs after his signature.
In reality we were never going to compete with any of the offers this young lad was going to get but yet the media and speculation kept coming. He eventually signed for Real Madrid on a weekly wage believed to be around the £60,000+ pw. Just a tad over what Celtic could offer him.
He now rubs shoulders with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale training with the first team while playing for the B team. Even though he has now been tied down on a mega bucks contract that hasn’t stopped the speculation that Celtic still would like to bring the player in. The Ronny Deila link means that this refuses to go away even all evidence points to it not happening. Yes, Ronny gave this lad his first senior start that set him on his way to becoming Norway’s youngest international when he started against United Arab Emirates at the age of 15 years and 253 days in August of 2014. Breaking a record that had stood for more than a century. But now the Norweigan has little stake or say in Martin’s future. Real Madrid call the shots and rightly so for the investment they have made in the 16-year-old.
This week an Italian website sent everyone into a frenzy after they reported the deal was all but done for Celtic to take Martin out on loan for the season. The bookmakers shortening odds and several media outlets who should no better ran with the story from a less than reputable website. There was no truth to what the Italian website had to say with officials in Spain have to reiterate that they want the player to reside in Spain if he is to go out on loan. A popular Spanish Journo speaking out after the speculation:
“It does not mean that they (Celtic Rumours), are without substance, but I know Real Madrid – and if you listen to experts down here, they say the club want him to remain in Spain.” (TV2)
It’s no surprise an Italian website reporting on a Norwegian Wonderkid who resides in Spain reporting on his move to Scotland was at best inaccurate.
Right now the player is no closer to joining Celtic on-loan as he was last week. Celtic might have asked the question but there has been no movement and as this site has said on more than one occasion it still remains a massive long shot.
But say we did get the player on a season long loan – what would be the point exactly?
If we got this young lad it would purely be for the headlines as in all honesty he wouldn’t fit into the team and even if he was shoe-horned in somewhere he would be taking the place of a permanent established squad player. Apart from a headline it doesn’t seem wise on Celtic’s part to further Real Madrid’s talent to the detriment of our own players. Ronny Deila actively left John Guidetti out in the second half of last season to give players who were going to be here beyond the summer a chance to impress why make an exception here? It would become a side-show and unwanted distraction to Celtic’s season.
My gut says that we will never see this boy in a Celtic top and Real Madrid will choose to loan him out to a team closer to home. It just makes sense to get him used to Spanish football as opposed to sending him to Scotland to get kicked up and down the country on dodgy pitches.
The sooner his future is sorted the better as we all can move on.
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