Real Madrid unsure how to handle Takefusa Kubo’s loan
Real Madrid loanee Takefusa Kubo has barely featured for Villarreal in La Liga, puzzling Madridistas.
This summer, Takefusa Kubo was arguably Real Madrid‘s hottest commodity on the transfer market. Whereas teams were reluctant to take on Gareth Bale or James Rodriguez on a transfer or even a loan deal, seemingly everyone wanted Kubo. Even Bayern Munich were linked to him.
But in the end, Villarreal won the sweepstakes. Unai Emery presented a plan to have Kubo central to his team in his first season as the leader of the Yellow Submarine. Villarreal are an exciting team competing in European football, so the moved seemed to make sense for Real Madrid.
Kubo has one goal and three assists in the Europa League with 2.4 key passes per game, according to WhoScored.com. So he’s acquitted himself well in Europe. But in La Liga, Kubo has just two starts and 11 appearances off the bench. Emery isn’t giving him much of a chance.
There’s already been speculation about Kubo having his loan terminated at Villarreal because of Emery’s unwillingness to give him more minutes in spite of his supposed big plans for Kubo before the season started. But it will be difficult to terminate a loan.
Cadena SER reports that Real Madrid “don’t know what to do” with Kubo’s loan right now. They are nervous about his playing time because the Europa League knockout stages won’t start for another couple of months. So in between then, Kubo will only be making his appearances off the bench for Emery in La Liga.
Meanwhile, Cadena SER add that there are loan offers from other clubs around the league who would like to have Kubo for the second half of the 2020-2021 season. They see an opportunity to swoop in with the sensational attacking midfielder underutilized by Villarreal.
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There are appealing offers who could offer Kubo a better situation. But Villarreal is a good club and have use for Kubo in the Europa League, which they could potentially win. They are competing for a Champions League spot in La Liga. So why would they agree to terminate a loan they are paying for and that Real Madrid agreed to?
It is a complicated situation. Hopefully, the wishes of Kubo are centered and he benefits in the end, but this is a saga to watch in January.