Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has revealed that he did try and sign Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard when he coached Bayern Munich.
The Norwegian was hot property even before he played his first senior game, and he toured Europe’s elite clubs to train before joining Real Madrid. Guardiola recalls watching the midfielder play and being convinced almost instantly that he was going to be a top player:
“I remember Odegaard, years ago, he came with his father for 2 days of training sessions [in 2014]. I needed 5 minutes to think: this kid plays good! He’s great player, really. Exceptional.”
Odegaard will face City on Wednesday evening, and it will be up to Guardiola to ensure that the Gunners captain doesn’t have time and space to do what he does best on the ball.
City, of course, have a number of top playmakers of their own, including Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish, so Guardiola isn’t exactly short of players that measure up to Odegaard.
Not many wonderkids go on to realise their potential but it appears Guardiola saw something in the Arsenal star all those years ago that suggested he would be one of those who would succeed.
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