Real Madrid starlet Martin Odegaard has criticized former Galactico boss Zinedine Zidane for inhibiting his chances with the senior side. The Norwegian attacker who is currently on-loan at Vitesse in the Dutch Eredivisie stated that the French manager's reluctance to give him play time harmed his self-confidence.
Odegaard declined offers from the likes of Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Ajax to join Real Madrid in 2015 after bursting onto the world stage at the age of 15. Tagged as the "new Messi", the midfielder oozed with potential and even gave fans a glimpse of the greatness yet to unfold when he made his international debut for Norway, aged just 15 years and 253 days.
Upon completing his move from Strømsgodset, Odegaard was recruited into Real Madrid Castilla, where he played under then-reserves manager Zinedine Zidane. However, the starlet failed to convince the Frenchman of being deserving of a spot among the senior squad after the latter was promoted to man the first team.
"Having Zidane as my coach was beautiful, but it was not good for my self-confidence,' Odegaard told Norwegian publication AD, as per Spanish outlet Marca.
"I had the opportunity to join many sides earlier in my career but Real Madrid was always my dream, they are the biggest club in the world and it was my best option.
"I trained with the first-team players from early on and I played under Zinedine Zidane for the Castilla side.
"It was important for me to play with the stars such as Sergio Ramos and Cristiano Ronaldo, it was a big move up from Strømsgodset."
So far, Odegaard has made just two appearances for Los Blancos and has since been on loan spells at Heerenveen and Vitesse. He has scored just three goals in 19 appearances for the latter where is contracted to till the end of the season.
