Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has expressed his admiration of Arsenal midfielder Martin Odegaard, calling him a “great player” and also revealing his attempt to sign the Norwegian while he was in charge of Borussia Dortmund between 2008 and 2015.
A lengthy conversation between Klopp and Odegaard, who was on loan from Real Madrid at the time during Liverpool’s 3-0 victory at the Emirates in 2021, revived previous rumours before the midfielder officially joined Arsenal the following summer.
Klopp, who joined Dortmund after his stint at Mainz 05, admittedly went after the Norwegian, but was unable to secure his signature, as Odegaard prioritised a move to Real Madrid. The player did not have the best of times at Santiago Bernabeu, as he constantly had to fight for a spot in the side against Marco Asensio, James Rodriguez, and Isco. Subsequently, Odegaard joined Arsenal on loan in January 2021, before making it a permanent move in the summer.
“I really like him. It’s easy these days. It was a bit more difficult at the start of his career when he was at Real Madrid. Then it looked like it might not go his way. I was really disappointed by that, because we wanted him in Dortmund when he was very young,”
Klopp said in an interview with TV2.
“It is very, very impressive. You can only imagine how many talents, huge talents, ‘crazy’ talents, I have seen over the course of quite a while in this industry. At the time, Martin was 15 years old and already playing in Norway. The whole world went berserk. Until he was 15, he probably experienced no hardship.
After that, a lot of things went against him. It makes him the person he is now, the man he is now, and the player he is now. I’m really happy that he has now become the player we all expected him to become. In fact, even better than that, if you will. He plays a massive role in an incredibly strong Arsenal team.”
The two sides will lock horns on Sunday with the roles totally flipped from the previous few seasons. With seven victories out of eight, Arsenal are in their finest form since Arsene Wenger’s heyday and are presently leading the table. After Saturday’s 3-3 draw against Brighton at home, Klopp’s men have only won two of their first seven league games, barely managing to stay in the top half of the standings with just nine points.
