Former Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has claimed that the signing of Martin Odegaard was a "PR exercise" orchestrated by club president Florentino Perez.

The highly-rated Norwegian midfielder joined the La Liga giants from Stromsgodset as a 16-year-old in January 2015.

Since then, he has spent most of his time with the Real second team, making just one appearance for the senior side.

Ancelotti, now at Bayern Munich, wrote in his book Quiet Leadership: "When Florentino buys a Norwegian footballer, you simply have to accept it.

"Furthermore, the president decided that he would play three games with the first team as a public relations exercise.

"He could be the best player in the world, but I don't care because he was not a player who I asked for. That signing was to do with PR."

Odegaard has nine caps for the Norway national team.

Written by
Giuseppe Labellarte