Real Madrid star and Argentina international Franco Mastantuono has been out of action for the last two weeks with a groin problem, but there have been no updates on a potential return for him.
Suffering from the same issue as Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams, which has proven troublesome for both.
The 18-year-old winger was one of the pleasant surprises for Xabi Alonso early on in the season, playing a starting role for him off the right side for the most part. Yet before the international break, the sports hernia kept him out of games against Liverpool and Rayo Vallecano. Although Real Madrid tend not to release public recovery times, local media generally are leaked a rough timeline, but not in Mastantuono’s case. Both Lamine Yamal and Williams have returned from the injury before eventually missing more time.
Unsurprisingly, there is a timeline internally for Mastantuono’s comeback. The Athletic have revealed that his original recovery period was to be over a month, but that could be reduced. Mastantuono now has hopes of returning in the coming weeks, and perhaps before the Christmas break. Los Blancos final game of the year is likely to be on the 20th or the 21st of December at home to Sevilla.
The absence of Mastantuono was initially filled well by Eduardo Camavinga during El Clasico, yet that experiment looked like just that at Anfield and in Vallecas the following week. Jude Bellingham has been trialed on the right, as has Arda Guler, but neither are entirely natural choices there.
Guler does have the ability to come in off the right onto his left, but struggles more to track an opposing full-back defensively. Equally, Alonso has opted to use him more centrally on the ball for the most part.