There will be a reunion of sorts between Martin Odegaard and Suso on Tuesday when Sevilla host Arsenal in the Champions League.
The two trained together at Liverpool when the Spain international was part of Rafa Benitez’s Spanish revolution, and the Norwegian was a 15-year-old prodigy who tried his hand at several clubs before opting to join Real Madrid in January 2015.
”It was that time when everyone wanted him. He was with us for about a week,” the Sevilla winger said ahead of tonight’s meeting.
‘He stood out because, just like now, he had that mop of blond hair and was left-handed. I’m left-footed, so I notice the left-footers more. You could see he had a lot of talent.”
At the time, Suso was a 21-year-old who struggled to get used to Jamie Carragher’s Scouse accent and was called to the table early by his ‘Livepool family’ with whom he is still in regular contact.
Suso has won two Europa League titles with La Liga club Sevilla since joining from AC Milan
Martin Odegaard trained with Suso at Liverpool before joining Spanish giants Real Madrid
Suso joined Liverpool at the age of 16 under Spaniard Rafa Benitez, but left for Serie A side AC Milan
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The two players’ paths have not crossed since then until now. Odegaard hardly played for Madrid, but flourished at Arsenal, where he is now captain.
Suso’s arrival at Liverpool came not long before Benitez’s departure and ultimately it was Milan where he really came of age before winning two Europa Leagues in Seville.
He has fond memories of Liverpool, despite it being just a stepping stone to success in Italy and Spain.
‘I was only 16 years old when I joined and I had the option of living with an English family of someone who worked for the club, or going with a member of my own family and getting my own house.
‘We asked Rafa what was best and he said it was better to live with an English family to adapt to the culture and learn the language.
‘They were brilliant against me. They were mum and dad Dee and Phil, and they had three sons, Simon, Robert and Paul. The youngest was my age and the other two were a little older.
‘It was a nice family. It’s true that the first few days, when dinner was served at 7 p.m., they had to explain to me: yes, it’s time to eat now.
‘I ended up telling them I couldn’t eat that early! That they would save some for me and I would heat it up later, but it was difficult at first, it was a different culture.
‘I’m still in touch with the sons and we spoke before the match against Manchester United in the Europa League last season. I was able to get tickets for them and we met. They were like my second family. They really took care of me.”
Dani Pacheco, Francis Duran, Antonio Barragan and Mikel San Jose were the other young Spanish imports who arrived to strengthen a senior armada in which Xabi Alonso, Alvaro Arbeloa and Fernando Torres had previously arrived.
Suso scored the equalizer in Manchester United’s 2–1 defeat to Sevilla in the 2020 Europa League
Suso scored 27 goals and 31 assists in 145 games in Serie A before Julen Lopetegui signed him for Sevilla.
Suso, now with Spanish caps and European trophies to his name, has had the best career of that younger group.
But it wasn’t easy moving so far from home as a teenager. “I got along very well with Jose Enrique and also with Luis Suarez,” he says. ‘They always tried to help me and protect me a little.
‘It was a time when young players in Spain, who didn’t get the opportunities at home, could go to England and play in the Carling Cup, the FA Cup. As a project and with the football culture there, it appealed to me.
‘The chance to play in Spain was always going to be there, but the opportunity for Liverpool was a once in a lifetime opportunity.’
He initially spoke no English and admits that Benitez was annoyed by the Spanish boys when they sat together after training or at breakfast. “He always said, ‘no, not together, not speaking Spanish,’” Suso remembers.
Did the conversation with his host family at least help him understand his teammates?
‘(Steven) Gerrard a bit, but Carragher, he’s incredible! I recently saw an interview he did with Leao from Inter and Leao is struggling to understand everything he says.
‘It’s incredible to see how there can be so much difference within the same city. The same would be true for an English boy trying to understand Spanish in my city (Cadiz).
“Brendan (Rodgers) did speak Spanish with me because he enjoyed learning it, which helped me a lot.”
Despite leaving shortly after Suso’s arrival, Benitez still made progress. He trained with the first team under Roy Hodgson and made his debut with Rodgers.
If he has any regrets, it is that he did not stay long enough to play for Jurgen Klopp.
The Spain international has won two Europa Leagues in Spain and is a regular in La Liga
He joined when Rafa Benitez signed many young Spanish players during his tenure
Adriano Galliani made him part of Milan’s rejuvenation project before the German arrived in Liverpool.
“I would have liked to work with Klopp,” he says. ‘Look how he changed Liverpool. They have gone from being a good team to being a very good team, one of the best in the world.”
He says he always follows Liverpool’s fortunes closely, as he did with Milan, where he says he was ‘contentissimo’ and scored twice in his first Milan derby.
‘The derby is special because it’s the same stadium for both teams, but if you’re the home team you go out and it’s all red and if you’re the away team you go out and it’s all blue. And you are ‘away’, but you are in your own dressing room, because there are three in San Siro – one for Milan, one for Inter and one for visiting teams.’
Suso scored 27 goals and had 31 assists in 145 games in Serie A before Julen Lopetegui, who had handed him his Spain debut, signed him for Sevilla.
He arrived in January 2020 and within six months he had won the Europa League by scoring against Manchester United in the semi-final.
Listen to the phone calls from his English ‘brothers’ Simon, Robert and Paul.
“Yes, I’ve had a lot of messages,” he laughs. “There were a lot of people from Liverpool who were delighted, and it happened again in the last Europa League when a lot of people from Liverpool wrote to me (after Sevilla eliminated United).”
Mikel Arteta hopes Sevilla’s European success will not translate into the Champions League
RC Lens defeated Arsenal in their last time out in the Champions League and Sevilla drew against PSV
This season the Europa League is where Sevilla don’t really want to be. They have started with two draws against Lens and PSV Eindhoven and need a win against Arsenal to stay on course for qualification under new coach Diego Alonso, Sevilla’s 10th manager in a decade.
He knows it won’t be easy against a team led by the 15-year-old Norwegian prodigy he trained with almost a decade ago.
“I think they are one of the main candidates (to win the Champions League),” he says.
‘Because they play so well and have a coach who has learned from the best and is now showing how good he is.’