Real Madrid are enjoying a season that looks set up for success, with a comfortable lead in La Liga, and a lead in their Champions League knockout tie against RB Leipzig.
At the heart of that has been Carlo Ancelotti’s ability to get the best out of a squad hampered severely by injuries. And yet despite that, he has several tricky situations with players to handle.
Luka Modric appears destined for a departure at the end of his contract, while tension is rising between Ancelotti and starlet Arda Guler, who is unhappy with the amount of minutes he is getting. The relationship between the Italian and Nacho Fernandez is also ‘strained’, according to The Athletic.
The veteran defender has enjoyed much more game time this season, following injuries to Eder Militao, David Alaba and more recently, Antonio Rudiger. Yet he does not feel he has the complete trust of Ancelotti, despite the Italian speaking positively of him in public. Nacho has been taken off on multiple occasions when Real Madrid have been looking to find a winner in games in order to put Aurelien Tchouameni in defence.
Last season Nacho admitted he was close to leaving the club due to a lack of game time, feeling he wasn’t getting a fair shot from Ancelotti in favour of the other three centre-backs. This season his game time has increased, even if his form has declined, due to circumstances, but again he will face a decision on his future this summer as he is out of contract. Los Blancos might not force him out, but with talk of Rafa Marin returning from his loan deal with Alaves, Nacho might wonder about his role next season.