Real Madrid: Center back Jesus Vallejo will join Granada

It’s been a tough five months for Spanish center back Jesus Vallejo. After being loaned to Wolverhampton Wolves in the Premier League for the full 2019/2020 season, the 23-year-old and the club mutually agreed to cancel the deal. Now, Vallejo will return to La Liga and will finish out the season with recently promoted Granada.

Somehow, Real Madrid now finds themselves with another player in limbo. Much like we have seen with James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale in the last couple of seasons, Los Blancos have a player who doesn’t seem to be part of the club’s future plans, but remains on the payroll nonetheless.

Jesus Vallejo is considered by Madridistas and manager Zinedine Zidane to be the fifth choice center back behind Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane, Eder Militao, and Nacho Fernandez.

And, despite keeping Vallejo on the first team over the last two seasons, there doesn’t seem to be any sign of improvement or any progress for that matter. After what appeared to be a breakout year in Germany with Eintracht Frankfurt, Vallejo spent the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 seasons in the Spanish capital but managed just 12 appearances in La Liga during that time.

President Florentino Perez and Zidane hoped that a year on loan with Wolves in England would help clarify what the future holds for Jesus Vallejo, however, it has done just the opposite.

Wolves manager Nuno Espirito did not see eye-to-eye with Vallejo and relegated the loanee to the bench for months before the deal was inevitably cancelled. In fact, Jesus hadn’t appeared in a single Wolves match since October 30th in a league cup defeat against Aston Villa.

Vallejo will now return to Spain and will finish out the spring with 10th place Granada. “I’m going to be clear, Jesus probably is going because he wants to play,” the Wolves boss told the press upon the departure being confirmed on Wednesday.

"“It’s based on reality. He had moments that he played and moments that he performed well and some moments he didn’t perform well. That’s the case of Vallejo. Clearly it didn’t work out.” – Nuno Espirito on Jesus Vallejo"

Granada normally operates in a 4-2-3-1 formation and center backs Domingos Duarte and German Sanchez have been solid all season helping to allow just 16 goals through 20 matches in the league. But one thing is certain of this loan move, Jesus Vallejo should see the pitch frequently.

If he doesn’t, it is clear that Real Madrid needs to move on from the Spaniard and find other depth options whether that be signing an up and coming player or promoting someone from the youth academy.

I am personally fed up with Vallejo and think it is time for the club to sell him or simply release him. He has not developed like many expected him to and it might be time to bite the bullet and admit defeat.

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