Real Madrid want Mariano to leave on loan in January
The youth team product has played just 13 minutes of football this year after a hype-filled pre-season. Only third-choice goalkeeper Rubén Yáñez has played less.
Mariano is the 23rd player in Zinedine Zidane’s squad. Only Rubén Yáñez, the unused third-choice goalkeeper, has played less than the young Dominican.
Mariano has played just 13 minutes of football this season
Mariano decided to stay at Madrid past the summer transfer deadline despite being warned by Zidane that he wouldn’t feature much given that Karim Benzema and Álvaro Morata were well above him in the pecking order. And the Frenchman wasn’t joking. Mariano has played just 13 minutes in Real Madrid’s first ten games this season (seven in the LaLiga, two in the Champions Legaue and the European Super Cup), in the closing stages of the 2-1 home win over Celta in late August.
He was a revelation during the pre-season. Benzema’s long-standing hip injury gave him an opportunity to feature during the club’s pre-season tour of North America and he scored a cracker against Chelsea in Michigan, a spectacular effort from outside the area that brought the crowd to its feet. He also had an opportunity to shine in the Trofeo Bernabéu match with Stade de Reims, scoring one of Madrid’s 5 goals that night.
Mariano likely to leave in January
Mariano had ‘it’ and the offers came flooding in. Leganés, a move that would allow him to stay in Madrid and be close to his parent club, were particularly interested and pushed hard to get him. But he decided to challenge himself and fight for a first-team spot. Now he finds himself faced with an almost-certain exit in January in search of first-team football. The club is convinced that he should leave to avoid stagnating and regressing while stuck on the bench.