How Guardiola Stopped Odegaard From Joining Bayern Munich

Martin Odegaard may not have been signed by Bayern Munich under Pep Guardiola because of his personal goals.

Jan Aage Fjortoft, a Bundesliga specialist and former player, has stated that Guardiola asked him in 2015 if he could help convince Odegaard to go with Bayern Munich.

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However, the renowned manager received an answer from the Norwegian center-forward Fjortoft that finally turned out to be accurate.

Speaking in Sport Bild, Fjortoft  plained his encounter with Guardiola in 2015, where they discussed fellow Norwegian Odegaard:

“When I was with Bayern at the training camp in Qatar, Pep Guardiola came up to me, put his finger on my chest and said: ‘You have to bring him to Bayern, I’ll make him the best player in the world’.

“I answered: ‘There is a problem, because you will soon be leaving Bayern Munich yourself.’ Then he was suddenly very still.”

After achieving full international recognition for Norway at the age of just 15, Odegaard stormed onto the spotlight in his teens and was signed by Real Madrid in 2015, beating out Bayern and Guardiola for his services.

The 2015-16 season would prove to be Guardiola’s last in Munich. He proved Fjortoft right as he left in the summer to take over at Manchester City.

In the time since, he’s taken them to four Premier League titles, while Odegaard has found himself as the captain of a resurgent Arsenal side that could well pip them to the title this season.