Real Madrid taking patient approach with struggling defender

Real Madrid right back Alvaro Odriozola was loaned to Bayern Munich at the winter transfer window, but he’s still having a difficult time earning minutes.

Although Alvaro Odriozola started the 2019-2020 season in promising fashion for Real Madrid, Dani Carvajal‘s lone backup at the right back position quickly lost his place. After a great attacking performance in a 4-2 win over Granada, Odriozola was the scapegoat weeks later in a 1-0 loss to Mallorca on the road, making a defensive error to allow an early goal before getting red carded to end all hopes of a comeback.

Zinedine Zidane and Real Madrid decided to roll with Eder Militao as the emergency backup right back and loan out Odriozola at the winter transfer window. They were able to find a top club willing to acquire Odri, as the former Real Sociedad man ended up with Bayern Munich.

However, it’s awfully hard to earn playing time at Bayern, since 2018 World Cup hero Benjamin Pavard has excelled in his first season with the team. In the first game of the Bundesliga restart, Pavard scored a goal to a seal a 2-0 win for Die Roten.

According to a report from Sergio Santos Chozas of AS, Real Madrid will still be patient with the 23-year-old right back. They believe he’s suffering from a loss of confidence, which is understandable since he was immediately benched after one poor performance against Mallorca. (And others were culpable in that lost, most of all the manager himself).

Per AS, Odriozola will likely receive another loan deal in the summer transfer window so that he can get regular playing time and regain his confidence. Odriozola was a quality player for Real Sociedad and had a strong 2018-2019 season for Los Blancos with a pair of assists to boot, so the quality is there. And while Real have so much talent at fullback, they don’t want to end up in another Theo Hernandez situation where they sell a talented player short.