Real Madrid News
Former Real Madrid defender hopes to return to the club: “Always been my home”
Speaking in an interview, Girona full-back Miguel Gutierrez has admitted that it will be very nice to return to Real Madrid at some point in the future.
The youngster came through the ranks at Real Madrid and went on to make ten first-team appearances, registering two assists in the process.
The 21-year-old, however, did not play much last season and even though Real Madrid let Marcelo leave in the summer, they also opted to sell Gutierrez to Girona.
The Spaniard has been making a solid impression at the Catalan outfit since his move and has made 19 appearances in La Liga, registering three assists.
Talks about a potential return to the Santiago Bernabeu in the summer had been doing the rounds, although a different former academy man in the form of Fran Garcia is set to secure a comeback to Real Madrid.
But, Gutierrez remains hopeful that a return to his ‘home’ will materialise sometime in the future.
“Of course, these are things that I have in my head, Madrid has always been my home, and thanks to the club, I am the player I am now. It’s clear to me that I have to keep doing well at Girona and in the summer we’ll see,” Gutierrez said, as quoted by AS.
“In football, you never know what’s going to happen. Returning to Madrid, to my home, would be very nice, but it’s all about having a great season here, as I’m already doing, and having good numbers.”
Real Madrid allowed both Gutierrez and Marcelo to leave this summer without signing a backup. That move has come back to bite them this term as the lack of depth at left-back has become a major issue.
With Ferland Mendy currently injured, Carlo Ancelotti has had to deploy Eduardo Camavinga as a makeshift left-back in recent matches. And in order to address that Real Madrid are set to sign Fran Garcia from Rayo Vallecano in the summer.
As for Gutierrez, if he keeps performing the way he has been, a return to the club in the future might not be off the cards.
Real Madrid are blessed to have the services and loyalty of Luka Modric and Toni Kroos. The duo have run the show in the Merengues’ midfield for close to a decade and continue to deliver flawless performances to date.
Of the two, however, it is the Croatian who deserves the higher credit. The veteran is now 37 years of age, yet dominates the middle of the park with grace and poise like none other.
Stephen Estuaqio, an FC Porto player and Canada International, spoke earlier this week about why he considered Luka Modric to be a special player and compared him with Kevin de Bruyne to support his stance.
“I played against De Bruyne, but I ran behind Modrić. I couldn’t play against him. It’s crazy how he dictates the game and controls everything. It was a lesson for me,” he said on The 90th minute on Youtube.
With his contract running out next season, Real Madrid are looking to renew his deal by one year come June. Yet, it is difficult to see him continue beyond next season and his imminent departure will mark the end of an era at the club.
Thus, Modric could be an altered role come next season. With a young midfielder, possibly Jude Bellingham set to arrive, the veteran could move into a mentorship role with the occasional appearance in big games.
This season, however, Carlo Ancelotti will continue to use him as one of the backbones of the side and deploy the maestro in the must-win fixtures coming up later this month.
At 37 years of age, Modric has started 16 La Liga games over 24 appearances this season in the competition. He has scored four goals and provided three assists in that process in addition to creating eight big chances with an average of 1.8 key passes per game.
