Mop-haired and dressed in jeans and a black-and-white striped sweater, 16-year-old Martin Odegaard looked like a student walking the streets of Madrid.
But this was no ordinary teenager.
Ten years ago today, Odegaard was in the Spanish capital to be presented as Real Madrid’s new £3.5million ($4.3m at the current exchange rate) signing, the club having beaten a host of European football’s other big beasts to buy one of world football’s brightest prospects from Stromsgodset in his homeland of Norway.
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Flanked by Madrid’s communications director, he sat in silence for more than a minute as a cacophony of camera shutters clicked in front of him. Not entirely sure where to look, what
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