Manchester United have joined Real Madrid and Barcelona on the scouting stands for Real Sociedad’s Alvaro Odriozola. Jose Mourinho had dispatched one of his talent hunters to watch the right-back take the pitch against Red Bull Salzburg in the midweek UEFA Europa League fixture.
Odriozola has been lucky enough to manage a call-up after Carlos Martinez and Joseba Zaldua were ruled out for the match against Malaga on January 2017. He found the back of the net in the 2-0 win and rewarded Eusebio Sacristan with a brilliant senior team debut performance.
The 22-year-old expressed his abilities to surge ahead on the wide areas while at the same time put in a decent defensive shift. His technical ability and willingness to stretch the floor game him a new identity in football – one every fullback in the modern game should be well acquainted with.
After his debut, Odriozola was quoted, “For me, it is a very special day because since I was 10 years old I have been at Real and [dreamed of making my] debut with the team of my life in the first division.”
He finished the 2016/17 season with 16 first-team appearances and 18 for the second string and is now a first-team regular. He has managed to appear in 31 games this season while registering 1 goal and 4 assists.
His fine form for Txuri-urdinak was rewarded with a call-up to the Spain U21 squad for the European Championships in Poland. In the space of six months, he had gone from an unknown prospect to finishing a silver medallist at U21 European Championships. He even managed to earn a call-up to the Spain senior team for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Albania in October.
The Basque Country-born defender has been linked to the big guns of Spanish football earlier by Odriozola rejected claims of a possible transfer. He told the press, “You can have your preferences, but I am 100% Real Sociedad and yes, sometimes it bothers me because the interest of some club appears and people think that you are of that team. And that is not so, so it bothers me.”
The 22-year-old already has a £40m release clause included in his current deal but Real Sociedad might just agree to sell him for a lesser bid. In the current market, that will be a bargain deal for a cash-stacked side like Manchester United.
Antonio Valencia is their current starter in the right-back position with Matteo Darmian banished to the benches and completely out of favour with Jose Mourinho. Odriozola can be a shrewd acquisition in terms of both youth and talent.
