How loan deals helped Martin Odegaard achieve his rich potential

Vitesse Arnhem

Odegaard would move to Vitesse Arnhem for 2018-19

Following the relative success of his first loan period it was decided that Odegaard should remain in Holland but he would move on from Heerenveen, joining Vitesse Arnhem on a season long loan deal.

If his progress had been steady before, 2018-19 would be the season that Odegaard really exploded into the European game.

Although Odegaard's pass completion rate would dip slightly below 80%, every other aspect of his game improved significantly.

In total he would play 39 games in that season, getting over 3,000 minutes of pitch time. His shots per game was on the rise, now averaging 2.4, but crucially this now started resulting in goals, bagging an impressive 11 in all competitions. There would also be an impressive 12 assists for his team mates, while he was also making 3.5 key passes per game, up significantly from 1.9 the previous season.

Although his pass completion rate did dip slightly this can be attributed to Odegaard now attempting significantly more crosses. This rose to 2.2 per game in 2018-19 as he played a slightly more attacking role than in his spell at Heerenveen when he had only attempted one per game playing in a slightly deeper role.

His impressive performances during the season were recognised with two player of the month awards and was also voted into the Eredivisie team of the season.