Former FC Barcelona wonderkid Alen Halilovic has now claimed Arsenal have ‘one of the best midfielders in the world’ on their books.
The story of Halilovic is one that most football fans of a certain age will remember, with the Croatian midfielder once viewed as the next Luka Modric having become a regular for Dinamo Zagreb at the age of 16 before moving to Barcelona at 18-years-old.
Like so many players before him, though, Halilovic couldn’t make the grade at Barcelona, making just one senior appearance for the club before beginning a journeyman career that has taken the playmaker to AC Milan to Hamburg to even Birmingham City.
And Halilovic now thinks one Arsenal playmaker is now one of the best in the world.
Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard lauded as ‘one of the best’ by former Barcelona wonderkid
Speaking to the Athletic, Halilovic was full of praise for Martin Odegaard and how the Norwegian has turned out at Arsenal, with the two midfielders often compared during their breakout years as a teenager on the European scene.
Halilovic said about Odegaard’s career: “I don’t even want to compare myself to Odegaard, as he is playing amazing the last few years and is one of the best midfielders in the world. I have a lot of respect, but they need to have patience.
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“I was thinking I needed to play (be picked) in front of Iniesta, but (as a young player) your time will come. It may take three or four years of playing until you are 21, or it may take until 25 like Odegaard.
“He changed from club to club and then found the best place for him, which has allowed him to show all the talent he has.”
Leaving Real Madrid has worked wonders for Odegaard
Leaving one of Europe’s biggest clubs in Real Madrid is a big step for a player like Odegaard, yet the midfielder has made the move work and then some since becoming a permanent fixture of the Arsenal squad.
Mikel Arteta has developed Odegaard into one of the best midfielders in the world and a real leader and source of inspiration for Arsenal, with the 25-year-old only going to get better as the years go on.
And for Halilovic, there might be a tinge of jealously over how Odegaard’s career panned out, with the former Barcelona wonderkid yet to really bring his career back from the dead despite so much early promise.