Former Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti claims he never asked the club to sign Norwegian starlet Martin Odegaard.
The 17-year-old was the subject of a tug of war between Europe's top clubs last January but Real won the race for his signature, signing the prodigious teenager from Sromsgodset for a £3million fee.
Odegaard made one substitute appearance under Ancelotti in May 2015, but he hasn't played since and has instead been cutting his teeth in the club's B-team, Real Madrid Castilla, in the third tier of Spanish football.
In Ancelotti's latest book, Quiet Leadership, Ancelotti, who was sacked by Los Merengues last year, says Odegaard's recruitment was a marketing ploy.
"When [club president] Florentino [Perez] buys a Norwegian footballer, you simply have to accept it," Ancelotti said.
"Furthermore, the president decided that he would play three games with the first team as a public relations exercise.
"He could be the best player in the world, but I don't care because he was not a player who I asked for. That signing was a to do with PR."
Odegaard is expected to be sent on loan next season, with Spanish outlet AS claiming the player's father wants his son to join a club in either the Premier League or the Bundesliga.