Isco’s transfer from Malaga to Real Madrid held headlines in August, and his first matches at the Bernabeu gave him as an indispensable player in the starting XI.
The 21-year-old midfielder had a brilliant start – 6 games – 5 goals and 3 assists, but slowly got more and more place on the bench.
Although it was expected that Di Maria losing his place after the return of Gareth Bale on the ground, the Spanish international was the one who was found increasingly rarer in Carlo Ancelotti’s starting formula.
In fact, of the 7 matches played by Real Madrid in 2014, Isco has started only twice from the first minute, one time playing al the game and the second being replaced after 60 minutes. The rest were just games that remained on the bench or sporadic played about a quarter of an hour.
In the last three matches of the Los Blancos grouping, Isco has played only 25 minutes – 13 minutes with Espanyol in the Copa del Rey and 12 minutes in the last round of La Liga, with Granada, and in the match against Betis was not used at all.
The plight of the former winner of the Golden Boy is confirmed by Real Madrid coach.
“At last matches I could not put him to play because our system not gives him many possibilities. He’s not a flexible player that can walk to all the land. Has qualities that can not put anyone in doubt but we must find together a solution for him to play more. I’ve used him in endings, but that’s not enough for a player like him,” said Carlo Ancelotti.