In total, Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard made only 11 senior appearances for Real Madrid before he left the club for north London.

Odegaard is now the star of the show at Arsenal, but his path to get to this point wasn’t always easy, a ‘wonderkid’ who looked as if his potential was waning at one stage. 

The Norwegian joined Real at a very young age, and his quality only really started to shine through during loans at Vitesse and Real Sociedad – form that Arsenal took notice of.

Of course, the rest is history, Odegaard is a ‘joy to watch’ for Arsenal, someone who is now vital to any aspirations of catching Liverpool in the Premier League title race.

Carlo Ancelotti ranked Dani Ceballos ahead of Martin Odegaard

That being said, Carlo Ancelotti’s comments about Odegaard shortly before he left Real for Arsenal are now pretty astonishing to read with the benefit of hindsight.

Ancelotti is one of the greatest managers of all time – there’s no doubting his credentials.

However, he certainly got it wrong with Odegaard, suggesting that there were seven better midfielders ahead of him at Real, with one being Dani Ceballos, a name known well in north London.

Mikel Arteta was able to get a tune out of Ceballos during the club’s FA Cup winning run in 2020, but he’s certainly not a better player than Odegaard, even three years ago.

Speaking in 2021 via Marca, Ancelotti said that Odegaard’s situation is similar to that of Jesus Vallejo, a defender who is still on the periphery of things at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Ancelotti said: “The situation with Odegaard is like with Vallejo , it’s down to where we are right now, we can’t register all of them.

“Tomorrow that could change. We have until September 2nd to make the final decision. I’ve told Odegaard that there are eight players in his position, but it’s not final. I had to choose.”

Why Martin Odegaard decided to leave Real Madrid for Arsenal

Speaking himself back in 2022, Odegaard shared why he thought Arsenal was the right project for him following his decision to leave Real for a new permanent home.

Odegaard is crucial for Arsenal these days, and he evidently saw all of the club’s potential under Arteta after his loan stay in N5.

Explaining how Arsenal convinced him, Odegaard said: “The project – the way the club and the manager wanted to do things, what they wanted to build here and how they wanted to play and to improve.

“Also what they said about me and how they wanted to use me, how they saw me as a player and what I could bring to the team and what they could offer to me.

“It was just the combination of all those things and the big project that is going on here, I wanted to be a part of that.”

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