Odegaard: More work, more goals, more of everything... with Vitesse LaLiga Santander - Real Madrid Youngster has become more decisive

He's always lived with great expectations, but now Martin Odegaard has started to fulfil his promise.

Nobody doubted the finesse of his left leg, or his vision of the game... but he needed to be more decisive.

"He may be the best in the world," said Ronny Share, president of Stromsgodset after he debuted at 15 years and 117 days old.

Suddenly, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Manchester City and Barcelona were immersed in an auction that took him to Real Madrid in January 2015.

Unable to command a regular first-team place, he went on loan to Heerenveen for a year and a half, and currently finds himself at Vitesse.

For Arnhem's team, he has four goals - two in the league and two in the cup - and three assists in 16 games.

The last, in the 92nd minute of that match, qualified Vitesse for the cup quarter-finals.

In just three months he has equalled the goals (four) he scored during his loan at Heerenveen and it's just one less than in the 62 games he played with Castilla.

"I'm 20 years old, but I have a lot of experience," he acknowledged.

"I feel like I have become a better player every year.

"It's important to contribute with goals and assists, as it gives me a lot of self-esteem.

"The main objective is to be able to play gradually at Real Madrid and show that it was the right choice."

Madrid are waiting

Meanwhile, at Real Madrid - with whom he has a contract until 2021- they monitor him weekly and are very happy with his evolution, both in offensive contribution and, this stands out more, in sacrifice.

"He has developed well and we hope he can play for the first team at Real Madrid one day," Florentino Perez recently said.

"We value that his is still only 20 years old."