Real Madrid News
Cristiano Ronaldo training at Real Madrid following Manchester United exit
Following a highly controversial interview with Piers Morgan, Cristiano Ronaldo has managed to ruin his legacy at Manchester United. The Portuguese spoke poorly about the club’s facilities, Erik ten Hag, and the owners, following which, his contract was terminated.
He came into the 2022 World Cup as a free agent, and started the first three games for Portugal – all in the group stages, scoring one goal.
However, following an abysmal performance against South Korea, Fernando Santos chose to bench him against Switzerland in the round of 16 in favour of Goncalo Ramos. His replacement ended up scoring a hat-trick.
Ronaldo was once again benched in the quarter-finals as Morocco knocked them out of the tournament.
Now a free agent, and without international responsibilities, CR7 is expected to choose his next club soon. Until that announcement is made, however, he needs to train regularly.
And Ronaldo has apparently chosen Valdebebas, the Real Madrid training ground, to do that, as reported by Jorge C Picon.
This will undoubtedly serve as fuel to the fire that are the rumours about his return to Madrid. There have been reports already suggesting that Jorge Mendes has offered him to Los Blancos on a six-month transfer.
Real Madrid are unlikely to make any signings in January, however, even though Karim Benzema has suffered from a fair few injuries this season.
The French striker came into this season on the back of a Ballon d’Or campaign, but picked up a thigh injury right before the World Cup kicked off.
Recent reports have suggested that the decision to send him back to Madrid was ‘rushed’. Especially because Benzema has completed his fifth training session, and will likely participate in Real Madrid’s friendly against Leganes tomorrow, according to Sergio Quirante.
As for Ronaldo, it is expected that he will make a decision over his next club after the World Cup ends, and will likely return to football starting not before January.
It is astounding that despite being the biggest club in Spain, Real Madrid do not have many Spanish players to show for it.
Los Blancos do indeed boast of a special diversity in the dressing room, but their lack of locally trained players could pose problems according to MARCA.
The Spanish outlet confirms that UEFA does not mandate the inclusion of any minimum number of locally grown players for a club. However, the Spanish federation stipulates that a club in Spain must boast of at least eight players who meet a specific set of conditions.
Of the aforementioned eight candidates, there must be at least four players who have spent three seasons or 36 months at the club between the ages of 15 and 21.
Currently, only Nacho Fernandez, Dani Carvajal, Lucas Vazquez, Federico Valverde, Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo and Mariano make up the required number on that front.
The problem, however, arises with the condition for the other four players in the list of eight. RFEF stipulates that the second set of four players must have completed at least 36 months in teams attached to the federation of Spain between the ages of 15 and 21.
Only Jesus Vallejo, Alvaro Odriozola, Marco Asensio and Dani Ceballos tick the aforementioned box. However, all four players have uncertain futures at the club and are well-placed to depart in the summer.
There are thus big decisions to be taken over the transfer strategy for June. Real Madrid can work ways to ship all four players out, it would require the re-integration of players like Sergio Arribas, Miguel Gutierrez or Fran Garcia to ensure the fulfilment of the criteria.
With both Vallejo and Odriozola seemingly frozen out of Ancelotti’s plans, their departures from Santiago Bernabeu appear inevitable. Thus, the management could be forced to renew one of Asensio or Ceballos come June.
