Two Real Madrid players could still head out on loan this month
By Ben Sundock
We are just over a week away from the end of August and it doesn’t seem Real Madrid is done letting players leave the club. Two promising players who are on the fringe of the first-team could still be loaned out. Here is what to expect from the club and from Marcos Llorente and Raúl de Tomas.
To say Los Blancos have youth depth at seemingly every position nearly brings a tear to my eye. While this causes a good headache for the manager and plenty of arguments for the fans to bicker about, having too many quality players can be a problem.
That is how boss Julen Lopetegui is feeling when it comes to both Marcos Llorente and Raúl de Tomas. Both Spanish internationals have been with Real for some time now and have put in impressive loan stints.
Llorente was considered by many to be the second best central defensive midfielder in La Liga after spending the 2016/2017 campaign with Deportivo Alavés – only behind Casemiro of course.
After spending this past season on loan in the Segunda División with Rayo Vallecano, de Tomas could be looking to move back in order to play some meaningful first-team minutes and help the team he was with for promotion finish in the top half of the table.
President Florentino Perez and Lopetegui could be looking to let both of these guys go get some quality experience and playing time while staying in La Liga.
Marca has reported that Espanyol is still aggressively pursuing Llorente as they look to shore up their lackluster midfield in the coming week. Espanyol has struggled to get over the mid-table hump the last couple years and could really benefit from a skilled player like Marcos coming in.
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The Catalan club knows it won’t be easy to entice the CDM to leave the capital, but they surely have seen the rumors saying the new manager doesn’t want to use the number 18 this season.
Llorente featured prominently in the preseason, but this was without Casemiro on the United States tour. We also saw Lopetegui elect to play Toni Kroos, Dani Ceballos, and Isco in the midfield in the first La Liga match of the season, leaving both Casemiro and Luka Modric on the bench.
de Tomas seems destined for another loan stint away from the Santiago Bernabéu despite his stunning 24 goals in the Segunda a year ago. Karim Benzema is still far and away the best available center forward in the squad with Borja Mayoral slowly but surely picking up his production in front of goal.
That leaves Raúl in a precarious situation. The board should be open to letting the striker go back out on loan with Rayo as they can see how he fares against La Liga competition and goes to a team is already comfortable with. He should also slot back in as a starter at the point of the forward line.
It seems to me like a no-brainer for Perez and Lopetegui. These are both young, promising players who need more first-team minutes. Neither will get that with Real Madrid, so, send them out on loan within the country and keep a close eye on them.