Martin Odegaard: Bayern Munich confirm highly-rated 15-year-old Liverpool target has trained with them in secret

Odegaard has also been linked with Real Madrid

Martin Odegaard in action for Norway (GETTY IMAGES)

Bayern Munich have made a huge leap forward in the race to sign Norwegian starlet Martin Odegaard. The club confirmed today that the 15 year old had trained with them in secret last week.

Odegaard is currently on the wishlist of almost all of Europe's top clubs. He has trained with Liverpool recently, and reports suggest he may also be set to visit Arsenal. Bayern seem to be making headway, however, with Pep Guardiola allowing the young talent to train with the first team in a bid to convince him to join Bayern.

Rumours that the player had trained with Bayern escalated this morning after Munich newspaper TZ revealed details of the secret training session. Pep Guardiola remained coy when asked about Odegaard in a press conference today, but Bayern's press office Markus Hörwick was quick to confirm the validity of the TZ report.

It was the second time the Norwegian had visited Bayern's Säbener Strasse training complex, having also trained with the Under-16 team last winter. But Bayern's youth team coordinator Michael Tarnat revealed in an interview earlier in the week that Odegaard was likely to be fast tracked into the first team, saying that he was “already too good” for the youth set-up.

With Odegaard turning 16 this month, the race for his signature is reaching a climax. Fifa statutes decree that players from non-EU countries can only be signed after their 16 birthday.

The player himself has already expressed interest in joining Bayern. “I follow the Bundesliga, and it's a very strong league. You can see that in the way their teams play in the Champions League”, he told SportBild.