Zinedine Zidane has been managing Real Madrid for a prolonged period of time and it’s no news that the Frenchman ends up making his mind on players which never really seems to change or alter. The finest and most recent example would be Gareth Bale, who had a fallout with the Real Madrid boss and never seemed to get back his relation with the gaffer.
The story seems to be repeating itself all over again with a couple of players in the current Real Madrid squad, namely Alvaro Odriozola, Mariano and Luka Jovic not apparently impressing the manager enough. These players have struggled massively to get any sort of minutes under their belt. The lack of game time could be attributed to their rank in the pecking order.
However, in their case, even when the team is struck with injuries, they do not make it to the playing eleven. To make matters worse, Zidane often deploys players from other areas of the field to fill up the void left by his first choice eleven. The Fourth Official discusses what’s in store for two of these players with the winter transfer window now open –
Alvaro Odriozola
Alvaro Odriozola has made a sum total of one appearance this season with only 57 minutes under his belt. Recently, something extremely interesting happened at the Valdebebas. Just prior to the turn of the year, Los Blancos were struggling with injuries. Dani Carvajal, who is Real’s first-choice right-back, was missing from action for over 5 weeks. Very naturally, Zidane should have resorted to Odriozola who is the only other right back in the squad.
However, Zidane laid his trust in the extremely versatile Nacho, who coincidentally picked up an injury just around the same time as Carvajal. Odriozola was served with another low blow when Zidane fielded Lucas Vasquez at the right-back slot who is an out and out winger/attacker.
At 25 years of age, Odriozola is certainly wasting his prime days with a side where he is not shown the sort of respect a player of his calibre commands. The Spaniard runs out of contract in 2024 after being signed by the Whites for a fee northwards of €20 million. It would be in the best interest of both the parties concerned if the latter decides to head towards the exit doors at the Valdebebas for a temporary or permanent move.
Mariano Diaz
The figures are relatively better for Mariano ( in comparison to Odriozola) who is the third choice striker at Real Madrid behind Karim Benzema and Luka Jovic. The Spaniard has played a sum total of 260 minutes this season and made just six appearances. Only four of those appearances have come in the Primera Division.
Being at the best years of his career, Mariano, at 27, should be ideally playing for a team where he is a part of the line-up on each matchday. With Karim Benzema in such lethal form and Luka Jovic to back up the Frenchman, it is perplexing to understand Mariano’s flow of thoughts.
There have been occasions when Mariano has been brought on to the field of play for about 80-90 seconds and nothing can be more disrespectful to a player than that. It would be the ideal time for Mariano to seek greener pastures for himself if he wants to progress and grow as a footballer at the very elite level.
