Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard's leaked WhatsApp exchange rock Norway team

Martin Odegaard and Erling Haaland are caught up in a controversy that has rocked the Norway national team, following the publication of private messages in a new book.

Despite having the captain and the prolific striker in their starting XI, Norway hasn't managed to qualify for a major tournament since 2000. However, it's been claimed that the team exploited an 'ethically questionable loophole' in their quest for Nations League success during the Covid-19 pandemic.

A new book, 'The Battle of the National Team', alleges that there were deliberate attempts to mislead Norwegian health authorities back in November 2020. A chapter named 'The Doctor's Lie' reveals that Norway's plans were thrown into disarray after then-Galatasaray defender Omar Elabdellaoui tested positive for Covid-19. It's alleged that team doctor Asle B.

Kjellsen allowed 19 Norwegian players, including Odegaard, to travel to their game against Romania from abroad, rather than on the same flight from Oslo, after realizing that Norway's laws didn't apply to foreign athletes. This meant that former Real Madrid midfielder Odegaard traveled to the match from Madrid, while ex-Borussia Dortmund forward Haaland flew in from Germany.

Leaked WhatsApp exchanges between the players, featured in a recent book and subsequently shared by NRK, reveal Haaland forwarding a screenshot of the Dagbladet homepage, prompting NRK to speculate on the national team's travel prospects. Odegaard's response? A string of seven Santa emojis.

However, this leak hardly proved to be a festive boon for Norway, as they suffered a 3-0 defeat to Romania and only managed a draw against Austria afterward. Kjellsen, addressing the claims in the book, told NRK: "Some may see me as a cynical doctor without morals after reading the book. I know that I was loyal to my patients, in this case, the players of the national team."

The incident sparked a furor within the Norwegian squad, with some questioning the ethics of making private conversations public.

READ MORE:

READ MORE:

Genoa's midfielder Morten Thorsby weighed in, saying: "It's clear that we don't want things like this to leak out," and stressing the importance of keeping such private exchanges within the team.

Meanwhile, Martin Odegaard is not joining the Norway squad as he continues his recovery from an ankle injury picked up during the last international break. The Norwegian prodigy, who burst onto the scene at just 15 years of age, has been on the mend and shared an update with the Gunners' faithful in his program notes before the Southampton game.

"In the last week or so I've made really good progress," Odegaard penned. "I'm getting better and better by the day and feel it's going well. When you feel like things are moving forward, it gives you motivation to do more and more and work harder."

He added, "Hopefully, it won't be much longer. I think we will know more as soon as I get out on the training pitches and we see how my ankle responds to that. At the moment it's progressing well and it looks better than we were thinking, but we've still got to take every day as it comes."