Who exactly IS Real Madrid's new signing Martin Odegaard?

22 January 2015 17:16

He’s 16 and he’s only played a handful of games for Stromsgodset, but that was enough to convince Real Madrid to sign Norwegian wunderkind Martin Odegaard.

Here are a few things you might want to know about the guy everyone’s talking about.

1. The attacking midfielder was the youngest player ever to turn out for the senior Norway national team. He was 15 years and 253 days when he faced the United Arab Emirates last summer.

Martin Odegaard makes his Norway debut against United Arab Emirates
(Terje Pedersen/Scanpix Norway/PA)

2. He broke a continental record that had stood for 31 years by becoming the youngest player to compete in a European Championship qualifier last September when he played in a 2-1 win over Bulgaria at the age of 15 years and 300 days.

Martin Odegaard playing for Norway against Bulgaria
(Hakon Mosvold Larsen/AP/PA)

3. Should he play for Norway at next year’s European Championship he’ll break another record – the youngest player to appear in the finals is Holland’s Jetro Willems, who was 18 years and 71 days when he faced Denmark in Euro 2012.

Holland line up against Denmark in Euro 2012
Jetro Willems, bottom left, will be hoping Norway don’t make it to the finals (Matthias Schrader/AP/PA)

4. Odegaard was given his league debut for Stromsgodset in the Norwegain top flight by Ronny Deila, now manager of Celtic, when he was 15 years and 117 days. Here the pair are together…

Martin Odegaard chats with Ronny Deila
(Vegard Grott/Scanpix Norway/PA)

5. One Englishman who’s known about him for a while is Brian Deane. The former Leeds striker was in charge of Sarpsborg when Odegaard scored his first league goal against him last May. He celebrated like this…

Martin Odegaard celebrates scoring against Sarpsborg
(Vegard Grott/Scanpix Norway/PA)

6. Odegaard visited clubs including Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Bayern Munich before making the decision to sign for Real.

7. He was spotted at a Copa del Rey match between Real and Atletico Madrid earlier this month.

Martin Odegaard watches Real Madrid play Atletico Madrid
(Daniel Ochoa de Olza/AP/PA)

8. Odegaard is a Liverpool fan, but sadly for the Reds that didn’t swing it in their favour.

9. He’s not just good at actual football – he’s also good at Fifa. Check out this video – he’s playing as Liverpool.

10. When he makes his debut, Odegaard will become the first Norwegian ever to play for Real. Yep – hard as it is to believe, they never signed Egil Ostenstad, Jostein Flo or Frank Strandli.

Source: SNAPPA