Back in 2015, eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo waxed lyrical about the potential of “very good” Martin Odegaard during their time at Real Madrid

Martin Odegaard has impressed since joining Arsenal on a permanent deal in 2021 (Image: Getty Images)

Almost a decade ago, Cristiano Ronaldo backed his former Real Madrid teammate Martin Odegaard to have a successful career in the game – and it’s safe to say he’s been proved correct.

Odegaard, who was 16 at the time, joined Real from Stromsgodset in January 2015 for a fee reported to be in the region of £2.6million. He initially started in the club’s reserves side, before making his first-team debut on the final day of the season against Getafe, replacing hat-trick hero Ronaldo.

During the early stages of Odegaard’s time at Los Blancos, Ronaldo tipped the Norwegian as one of five players he thought would have a good future, with Eden Hazard, Memphis Depay, Paul Pogba and Neymar the other four. Ronaldo told BT Sport in 2015: “You see many players with potential. I will mention Martin Odegaard of Madrid for example, at 16 he’s still young but you can see he’s a very good player.”

When quizzed about what had impressed him about Odegaard, Ronaldo said: “He’s a great player, I think he’s a young boy, he can still grow. He has a good future ahead. We must give him time to learn, to take his best decisions. But I see a lot of potential in the player, he has got a good left foot.”

Odegaard struggled for game time during the first few years of his Los Blancos career and decided to go out on loan to Heerenveen, Vitesse and Real Sociedad to gain valuable game time. He returned to Real at the start of the 2020/21 campaign and featured nine times in all competitions, before being sent out on loan to Arsenal.

Question marks were raised over Mikel Arteta’s decision to sign Odegaard in January 2021, with James Maddison and Jack Grealish among others linked at the time. During his short temporary time at the Emirates, Odegaard scored twice and provided two assists in 20 appearances.

But Odegaard did enough for the Gunners to sign him on a permanent deal for £30m in the summer of 2021. Once again, some Arsenal fans were baffled as to why Maddison wasn’t the one Arsenal signed instead after Leicester agonisingly missed out on Champions League football.

Martin Odegaard is a fan favourite at Arsenal ( Image: Getty Images)

After a difficult start to the campaign, Odegaard cemented himself as a regular in the Arsenal side as they pushed for a place in the top four. As a reward for a string of impressive performances, Odegaard was named as the Gunners captain for the final nine Premier League matches of the 2021/22 season.

Odegaard finished the season on seven goals and five assists in the top flight, and he drastically improved that total last season as Arsenal mounted a Premier League title charge. The Norway international scored 15 goals and notched eight assists in 45 matches, and was named in the PFA Team of the Year for his efforts.

This term, Odegaard has seven goals and three assists to his name in 22 games and produced an exceptional performance for the Gunners against Brighton on Sunday. As for Ronaldo’s verdict over eight years ago, Odegaard simply has a wand of a left foot and is producing regularly.