Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal must pay huge amount to sign Real Madrid's Martin Odegaard

Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal are all interested in Real Madrid star Martin Odegaard

Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal would have to pay a ridiculous £311million to sign Real Madrid prodigy Martin Odegaard.

Odegaard has flourished on loan at Real Sociedad this season and, earlier this week, was linked with a move to the Premier League trio.

The Norway international was signed by Los Blancos in the summer of 2015 at the age of 16 and was immediately given dizzying wages of £50,000-a-week.

He initially struggled but is maturing and his loan stint at Sociedad has prompted interest from United, Liverpool and Arsenal.

Yet Spanish newspaper Marca say that, after the playmaker extended his contract in the summer, it will cost clubs £311m to sign him.

That would make him the world’s most-expensive player - by quite some margin.

That mantle currently belongs to Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar, who cost the Ligue 1 giants £200m when they signed him in 2017.

Kylian Mbappe is next on the list, with PSG paying £166m to snap him up in the same summer as Neymar.

It’s hard to see any of the Premier League trio paying that.

But all three have their respective reasons for eyeing a playmaker ahead of the January transfer window.

United are lacking a creative spark with Juan Mata seemingly past his best and Jesse Lingard out of sorts.

Liverpool, meanwhile, have missed a creative presence in the middle of the park since Philippe Coutinho’s exit.

And Arsenal are seeking an upgrade on Mesut Ozil, who manager Unai Emery is keen to jettison at the earliest opportunity.

Meanwhile, Odegaard recently admitted that he was keen to stay at Sociedad beyond his current spell.
"I signed a year plus one and my intention is to be here two seasons,” he said.

"If Zidane calls me in the summer? I haven't thought about that.

"My intention is to stay here for two years and I think it's important for me. I've changed teams for two years and I think that for young players, for me included, it's good to have some stability.

"This is a great club and hopefully we can play in Europe next season. My intention is to be here two years."