Martin Ødegaard has flown under the radar over the past few seasons. The Norwegian midfielder was the talk of the town in 2014 after being signed by Real Madrid at just 16 years old but has since been loaned out to two different teams in the Eredivisie and deemed irrelevant to many Madrid fans, who see Dani Ceballos, Vinícius Jr and Rodrygo as the future of the club.
FC Barcelona players arrived at the club’s Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper training center this morning only to find the doors locked and a piece of paper taped to the entrance reading: “El fin.”
Vinícius Jr’s transition to Real Madrid has by no means been easy. The young Brazilian joined Madrid from Fluminense for $50 million in 2017, making him the second-most expensive transfer from Brazil behind only Neymar. Unlike Neymar, Vinícius Jr has not found immediate success in LaLiga.
Vinicius, while showing incredible dribbling ability and ball control, has lacked the final product of his Brazilian compatriot, scoring just one goal in LaLiga in his first season at Real Madrid compared to Neymar’s nine goals.
Zinedine Zidane handed 26-year-old goalkeeper Alphonse Areola his first Real Madrid start in Wednesday’s LaLiga match against Osasuna at the Bernabeu.
Areola made 75 appearances with Paris Saint-Germain before joining Los Blancos on loan (Real sold Keylor Navas to PSG).
Jimmy Butler was never really in contention for the United States squad at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup. He played his part in helping Team USA to gold at the 2016 Olympics, and the 30-year-old must now adjust to life in Miami after being traded by Philadelphia. So you can’t really blame him for missing out on America’s shambolic seventh-place showing and going to Barcelona instead.
Despite his age, Ansu Fati doesn’t need any time to adjust to the highest level.
A 16-year-old forward, Fati became Barcelona’s youngest-ever goal scorer a couple weeks ago. He received his first start at home against Valencia on Saturday and took no time proving he belongs on one of the best teams in the world.
Fati scored in the second minute and added an assist five minutes later in a mindboggling opening to his first career start.
It’s been a while since Lionel Messi’s last in-depth interview with a major news outlet, but one has just landed today from Barcelona-based daily SPORT.
Antoine Griezmann is a highly respected footballer who has won a World Cup and finished as high as third in Ballon d’Or voting.
But in order to really win over the respect and admiration of his new Barcelona teammates, he had to go out and get a Switch.
Barcelona slumped to a 2-2 draw with Osasuna on Saturday, leaving the Blaugrana in eighth place and five points back of leader Atlético Madrid following three match days.
Who needs Lionel Messi when you’ve got Ansu Fati?
Well, Barcelona still needs Messi, but the Catalan club has something special in this 16-year-old forward.
With Messi out injured, Fati made his LaLiga debut last week as Antoine Griezmann stole the show.
Against Osasuna on Saturday, Fati was the star.