TZ: Bayern Target Ødegaard at Private Training with Pep Guardiola



The Norwegian prodigy supposedly saw first hand how Pep Guardiola relays his philosophy to his young players.

Martin Ødegaard, the most sought-after teenager since Neymar, was at a Bayern Munich training session a few weeks ago, according to a report released Thursday morning from TZ.

The Norwegian international visited Munich a year ago as a guest of Bayern's, where a dialogue with the youngster supposedly began. TZ also suggested that the idea behind this private training session was to show Ødegaard that Guardiola has his best future in mind. Ajax, Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Real Madrid all supposedly have interest in an Ødegaard transfer.

The phenom finished his Tippeligen season in November having logged 24 appearances, including 15 starts and a 5 minute cameo in UEFA Champions League qualifying. He scored five goals and recorded six assists with Strömsgodset, earning him an international call-up to the Norwegian national team during the November international break. He made is international debut in Norway's friendly against Estonia, but did not feature in the nation's UEFA Euro qualifier against Azerbaijan.

Ødegaard has one more year on his deal, but with the Tippeligen season over and clubs sniffing around, Strömsgodset could be tempted to part with their prodigy in the January transfer window. Transfermarkt changed their evaluation on him earlier this week to €4 million, but whether an offer in that range would get the job done is unknown.

Playing regularly with Strömsgodset, Ødegaard appears to be looking for a destination where the first team is firmly in reach. Reports out of Spain have Real Madrid as the favorites to sign the youngster, but Ødegaard may have ruled them out due to his desire not to play with their second team. If this training session did in fact happen, it might go a long way to showing Ødegaard that his path into Bayern's first team is shorter than what other clubs can offer.

Björn Andersson, one of Bayern's scouts, believes that the Rekordmeister are in a good spot with Ødegaard, saying in November that Ødegaard "feels good at Bayern." He turns 16 on December 17th, but Andersson said now is the time to make a move for him.

"I also saw Ronaldo, Iniesta, and Rooney when they were 16," said Andersson. "They all needed to dare to take the step forward in order to get where they are today."

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