Zinedine Zidane has revealed that it was Martin Odegaard’s idea to join Arsenal for the rest of this season.
The Norwegian moved to the Emirates in the last transfer window as he sought more playing time.
He had been one of the stars in La Liga last season, and his performances while on loan at Real Sociedad forced Los Blancos to recall him.
He started the club’s first few games before falling down the pecking order.
Even though he wasn’t used frequently, he was in Zidane’s first-team plans and the French manager wanted him to remain with them at the Bernabeu.
However, the midfielder didn’t want to spend the last six months of this season on the sidelines and asked for a move.
Zidane assured him that there are many more games to play if he stayed, but he insisted that he would rather move to Arsenal, according to the Madrid manager.
‘Odegaard wanted to go, he wanted to play,’ the iconic Madrid head coach told reporters via the Metro.
‘I wanted him back from his loan [with Real Sociedad] and I told him to stay because the season is still very long and he would have had his chances but he wanted to leave and play.
‘We talked about it two or three times. It was a demand from him.’
Zidane added: ‘I told him that he should stay to fight for his place.
‘I was the one who wanted him here, but he wanted to go.’