Real Madrid have made it clear to Lille that Thiago Pitarch is not for sale this summer, after the French club showed interest in signing him, according to The Athletic.
Lille want to move quickly in the transfer market to replace their outgoing Ayyoub Bouaddi, and with only a few days left in the window, they do not have much time to replace their best player from last season.
Pitarch, at least on the ball, has a similar profile to Bouaddi. He loves keeping the ball and making himself available for the team on the pitch. He keeps moving around to give options to his teammates, and he also loves oozing past multiple players at will.
Although both of them are at different stages of their development, it is clear that the players are similar, which makes sense as to why Lille want to sign Pitarch.
Real Madrid want to keep Thiago Pitarch anyway
It is also worth noting that Lille have sold Bouaddi to Manchester City in order to replace a departing Rodri, who has joined Barcelona, so selling him to Lille would feel like contributing to the chain of transfers that led Rodri to their biggest rivals, and surely, Real Madrid would not want to do that, anyway.
As for Pitarch, he had a really important but unexpected season last time around, as he started playing regularly for the first team after making the jump from Castilla.
This season, although he will be registered with Castilla, he will have an improved contract, and will keep playing for the first team.
How many minutes he ends up playing depends entirely on his development as a player, whether he is able to get rid of some of his weaknesses, as well as whether there is an actual need for him in the squad.
To that last point – there should be. Jose Mourinho loves having similar profiles to interchange and replace whenever needed, and Bernardo Silva – if he ever gets injured, suspended or rested – could go out for Pitarch to come in.
Obviously, there are other midfielders that would want to take the role, but stylistically speaking, as well as what his role is generally with the team, it would make sense for Pitarch to share some minutes.
It remains to be seen how much he plays when he comes back from injury, but Real Madrid have indicated to Lille as well as Pitarch that he is in their plans.
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