Ex-Real Madrid star Isco unemployed and training at home after snubbing multiple transfer offers
EX-REAL MADRID star Isco has found himself unemployed and training on his own AT HOME.
According to The Athletic, the attacking midfielder became a free agent in January after falling out with Sevilla’s director of football Monchi.
The former Spain international came close to a move to Union Berlin and flew to Germany where he passed his medical but circumstances changed at the eleventh hour.
Isco initially aspired to join the MLS but a deal never took place as any interested club would have had to make him a designated player in order to pay him something close to what he earned in Europe.
And now, the once up-and-coming star has found himself without a club and training at home with the help of a personal trainer at the age of 30.
This poses as quite a fall from grace for the ex-Malaga protege, who joined Real in 2013 as Carlo Ancelotti’s first ever signing.
The playmaker hit the ground running and went on to win four Champions League titles, while his performances earned interest from Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City and even Barcelona.
That led to a new deal in 2017, which included a release clause worth a whopping €700million (£619m).
However, Isco quickly fell out of favour mainly because Real don’t really use attacking midfielders anymore, something the likes of Mesut Ozil and James Rodriguez also found out the hard way.
It all started when Santiago Solari took over from his mentor Julen Lopetegui in 2018.
Solari preferred to use young players like Vinicius Junior and Federico Valverde instead of stars with heavy contracts, such as Isco.
The Spaniard had a public fallout with Solari, who then excluded him from his plans.
Things didn’t improve upon Zinedine Zidane’s return and the situation remained the same when Ancelotti came back.
Real tried to get his high salary off the payroll with a move to AC Milan in 2021 but the player wasn’t happy with the wage cut that was involved.
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That led him to Sevilla under Lopetegui, who urged the club to sign him despite Monchi’s disapproval last year.
However, the Spanish tactician was sacked and joined Wolves, while his successor Jorge Sampaoli quickly realised he doesn’t fit the team and would be preferable to get his lucrative wages off the books.
And upon his departure, Monchi stated publicly it had been “a mistake” to sign him and “it would have been a further mistake to continue with the error” by not ending their relationship in January.
Isco has received offer from clubs in Saudi Arabia and Turkey, while it seems like there is also interest from LaLiga.