Martin Odegaard has enjoyed a superb season for Arsenal and now an anecdote has emerged that proves he was always going to be a hit in the Premier League.
It feels like yesterday that a baby-faced 16-year-old Odegaard - heralded as the next big thing - signed for Real Madrid.
The youngster understandably needed time to settle and mature but after he returned to the Bernabeu to sit on the bench after a successful loan stint at Real Sociedad, it looked like he might just fade away.
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Thankfully, Arsenal came along, and this season he has been a key cog in Mikel Arteta's table-topping machine.
Odegaard has not only taken on the responsibility of becoming Arsenal captain but he now shoulders much of the creative burden too.
This season he has scored nine goals and recorded six assists in the league, ranking him among the top 10 players in the Premier League for both.
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Playing as the right-sided No.8, Odegaard sees pockets of space and passes that seem invisible to everybody else.
Now, a remarkable anecdote explains exactly how he is able to do it.
A 2013 study of 55 midfielders found that those with a higher scan rate - the ability to scan your surroundings before receiving the ball - had a higher forward-pass completion rate.
Odegaard was enlisted by Be Your Best virtual reality software to take part in the study.
The software provides an immersive experience that simulates game situations, logging the number of times and when a player checks their surroundings - and the decisions made as a result.
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When Odegaard tried the software, he forced the developers into a rethink.
"When he used it, one of the product development features added as a result was because he mentioned that he wanted to have a higher difficulty," Be Your Best chief executive Andreas Olsen told Sky Sports.
"He was very humble and respectful when doing the scenarios but instead of wanting it set at 100 per cent speed, he asked if he could do it at 120 per cent. Now we have a slider where you take the speed up or down based on the actual speed of the scenario."
While there are obviously multiple factors contributing to Arsenal's fantastic season, it's undeniable that Odegaard sees things quicker than others. His vision is elite and could help Arsenal win a first Premier League title since 2004.
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Martin Odegaard, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Premier League, Mikel Arteta