Real Madrid was hasty to loan out fullback Alvaro Odriozola to Bayern Munich in January and after struggling in Bavaria, the club will look to sell the player this summer. In order to get him off the books, Los Blancos will likely have to send him to Sevilla.
Real Madrid may have backed themselves into a corner by choosing to loan out promising fullback Sergio Reguilon during the summer of 2019.
After a breakout campaign in 2018/2019 which saw the defender play nearly 2,000 minutes in 22 appearances, Reguilon was sent to Andalusia to make room for summer signing Ferland Mendy. In his time away from the capital, Reguilon has continued to perform at a high level and has become a regular in the Sevilla starting XI.
He has made 22 starts in La Liga already this year and was playing well on both ends of the pitch.
He has contributed one goal and four assists and is averaging 2.1 tackles and 1.1 interceptions per match. In fact, he has been playing so well Sevilla is seriously considering either extending Reguilon’s loan deal or making the move permanent.
In an effort to bring Reguilon back for free and not risk losing him to another La Liga team, Real Madrid could offer Alvaro Odriozola as collateral. You might be saying, why would Real need to offer someone to Sevilla to get a player they own back from loan?
Well, as sources have pointed out, Sevilla will lose their starting left-back in Reguilon at the end of this campaign – whenever that may be – and will lose their starting right-back Jesus Navas soon since he is now 34 and has one year remaining on his contract.
Therefore, the best option would be for Real Madrid to offer Odriozola to ensure there is not a bid made.
Alvaro Odriozola’s career is in a precarious spot right now. His poor form over the last year or so has seen his market value drop from nearly $30 million to just below $18 million at the time of writing.
In an ideal world, Real Madrid brings back both Reguilon and Achraf Hakimi to create one of the deepest fullback corps in the world while either loaning Odriozola back out or selling him outright.
It is important to remember that Real Madrid and Sevilla have a rather good relationship despite always competing for Champions League spots and the clubs have done big business in the past.
I think if you asked any Madridistas who they would prefer to have in the lineup come the fall it would be Reguilon and not Odriozola. If the club really does need to sell players to have enough money to pursue big-name targets, Alvaro is one of the first names that should be considered expendable.