Arda Güler is finding life tough at Real Madrid: could he leave the club?

Arda Güler is not seeing a lot of minutes on the pitch and the Real Madrid head coach, Carlo Ancelotti, has had his say on the matter.

Nico Paz has played more minutes than Arda Güler. This is a statistic that does not speak badly of the youth team player - far from it - but instead sums up the Turkish midfielder’s very poor levels of participation: he has been invisible. Real Madrid have played 3,390 minutes this season (37 games and two extra-times), but Arda has only been involved in 92 of those.

Or in other words, 2.7% of the entire season. The situation is has now become both delicate and strange; AS understands that the player is upset and does not understand his situation. He understands that he is not a starter at the age of 19, but that there is also a middle ground between that and his current situation. The fact is that his attitude and those around him are leading the player to murky waters.

He had his first disappointment against Almería: after warming up for the whole of the second half, Ancelotti left him the player on the bench and as a result Güler threw his bib down at the side of the pitch, visibly upset.

The coach took the heat out of the situation in a press conference and, six days later, put him on for 10 minutes against Las Palmas.

But it was a mirage: after that, he saw no minutes against Getafe and Atlético. He did have a quarter of an hour in the match against Girona and in stoppage time at Vallecas. In general he has played very little and, above all, in games and moments of little importance.

That was about to change against Sevilla, when the second substitution was set to take place. With 0-0 on the scoreboard and the team pushing to win, Carletto sent Güler to get ready to come on. He was already dressed in his shorts and listening to instructions from Davide Ancelotti (the assistant coach)... when Modric rubbed the magic lamp, turned into a genie and made it 1-0.

It was then when the coach decided to completely change the plan of action and go for control over attack. So Güler put his jacket back on and was left out of the game. Sitting on the bench, his attitude turned ugly and the player did not enjoy the rest of the game celebrating and supporting with his teammates.

The debate is now raging: there will be those who consider that his situation is so bad that they understand him, and will be those who disagree with his attitude. Carlo Ancelotti made his voice clear on the matter: “after Modric’s goal I changed the plan, it’s not so complicated and I don’t have to give explanations... if he doesn’t understand, nothing happens”.

The coaching staff have long been aware of the pressure from the player’s entourage, which is huge. Because included in the group is not only his agent and closest circle, but a whole country.

Real Madrid were also unhappy when in the summer, during his presentation, the youngster said “I rule out going out on loan”. He did not even allow for advice on the matter when the overwhelming feeling was and is that a year away, as happened with players like Brahim, would have been good for the club, but above all for him.

Between whistles, Güler is looking towards March with just 92 minutes in his pocket, less than Nico Paz. And this summer there is the European Championship, where he will play with Turkey. He has a few months left to reverse a situation that is going from bad to worse and is already getting irritated. Some will understand, some will not.