'If Real want Odriozola they'll have to pay his release clause'

Sociedad have a number of players who are thought to be attracting admiring glances from some of La Liga's top dogs but it is Odriozola's development that has caught the eye of Real Madrid. Speaking to 'Radio Marca' the Basque side's sporting director has moved to give his thoughts on the reported interest in the player from Zinedine Zidane's side.

"If Real Madrid want Odriozola, they'll have to pay his release clause and the player will have to actively want to leave. We know that should they meet those two criteria, there won't be much we can do to stop it from happening. It has been shown that even a release clause of €200m isn't enough to deter some teams these days. But both on a sporting and economic level we're doing our best to convince people to stay, they are experienced enough to know that moving to those kinds of clubs is difficult, you really have to be ready," he explained.

Finally, the Sociedad chief revealed that he has been pleasantly susprised in recent times of the quality of player willing to join the club. "At the moment we're not planning on signing any players in January despite Vela's departure. We have six players battling it out for a place in attack, four very good central midfielders... Let me tell you, we get a lot of phonecalls from agents offering us players and it sometimes surprises us that they're willing to join us," he added.