Real Madrid: Martin Odegaard vows to impress Rafael Benitez

Marca claims the 16-year-old is wholly aware that Los Blancos’ upcoming tour of Australia and China will be the perfect opportunity to impress new boss Rafa Benitez and subsequently earn a place in the first team for 2015-16.

“For now, I need to get some rest and be with my family. In a month, I’ll be back in Madrid and ready for pre-season training,” the attacker told a training camp via Norwegian channel TV2.

“It’s not that I’m not training in Norway, but training isn’t as tough as it is during the season.

“The most important thing is to enjoy yourself. If you have fun, it’s easy to want to train a lot and listen to the people who give you advice.”

Real Madrid are expecting big things from the young Norwegian international, but his time may not come in the forthcoming season. It remains difficult to see where Odegaard will be shoehorned into such a side. There is plenty of talk about Odegaard being lined up for a move to another La Liga side such as Valencia or Real Betis. At least Benitez will be able to monitor his progress if such a transfer comes to fruition.