New Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has dropped a cryptic hint over the future of Arsenal target Martin Odegaard upon his return to the club. The Norwegian midfielder spent the second-half of the 2020/21 season on-loan at the Emirates Stadium and impressed enough for supporters to encourage the club to pursue a permanent deal.
Carlo Ancelotti said: “With this squad, without loan players like [Gareth] Bale, [Martin] Odegaard and [Dani] Ceballos, Madrid reached the UEFA Champions League semis and fought for La Liga. So we have the players to win trophies.”
What his comments mean remain to be seen, with some perceiving them as suggesting Real are strong enough without the loan trio, whilst some of taken them to mean that Los Blancos would be far more capable with the three of them in the squad. If you decide later that you no longer wish to receive the emails, simply follow the unsubscribe link in one of the newsletters – but we don’t think you’ll want to. Regardless, Ancelotti has already suggested that he will evaluate all of the players at his disposal ahead of next season even if they were out on-loan.
Carlo Ancelotti continued: “We have a very big squad, and first thing we have to do is evaluate the players we have.”
In all, Odegaard made 20 appearances for Arsenal in all competitions, scoring twice – one of those being a winning goal in a North London derby.