Izzy Christiansen has claimed that Manchester City have a player who has “similar traits” to Martin Odegaard.
Two candidates spring to mind at City.
One is Phil Foden, who much like Martin Odegaard is silky, a technical phenom and a player who thrives in advanced areas of the pitch.
In fact, the pair have been compared to one another recently, with Anton Ferdinand siding with the Englishman as the superior number 10 based on this season’s form.
Bernardo Silva is the other candidate, who much like the Norwegian captain plays his best football when playing in a deeper role as a controlling presence in the middle of the park.
Both Foden and Bernardo, much like Odegaard are also left-footed and some of the most aesthetically pleasing players to watch in the Premier League.
As a result, it would make sense for the Manchester City duo to be likened to the 23-year-old.
However, Izzy Christiansen has not compared the Arsenal captain to either of them.
Izzy Christiansen says Manchester City have a “similar” player to Martin Odegaard
It is fair to question that if not Foden or Bernardo, do City have any player in the mould of Odegaard?
Perhaps some might claim Jack Grealish might be the answer, even though he is right-footed and often plays out wide.
However, Grealish is much more of a ball-carrier than the Arsenal talisman and has a more aggressive approach to his game in central areas.
Similarly, while Mateo Kovacic thrives in deep areas as the former Real Sociedad midfielder does, he is not as proficient as he can be in the final third.
Izzy Christiansen, however, thinks that Martin Odegaard and Julian Alvarez are similar players, while speaking on BBC 5 Live Sports’ Premier League- Around The Grounds show.
“You will see [Martin] Odegaard tonight and he is one player who sticks out to me in the Premier League who stands out as being one of the best people out of possession but he’s an offensive player, he has that creativity. I look at [Julian] Alvarez and I see similar traits.”
“They are not the same player by any means but the defensive actions which Alvarez is able to complete under pressure make him sometimes undroppable”, she said.
Julian Alvarez is nothing like the Arsenal midfielder
Martin Odegaard once named David Silva as one of his role models and in our view, he is that type of a midfielder rather than a striker like Julian Alvarez, as opposed to the claim from Izzy Christiansen.
Unlike Odegaard, Alvarez is not at his best playing in tight pockets of space and does not possess his technical mastery of the ball, vision and controlling presence when he plays in midfield.
Perhaps the only facet of the game in which the pair are even remotely similar is how brilliant their shooting is.
Alvarez is a goalscorer while Odegaard is an orchestrator in midfield.
As a result, Julian Alvarez and Martin Odegaard could not be more on the opposite ends of the spectrum as players.