Real Madrid midfielder Isco has been tipped to join Sevilla, after falling out of favor with Blancos coach Zinedine Zidane at the Bernabeu in recent months.
Isco started before Gareth Bale in the 2017 and 2018 Champions League finals for Real, but has only started 29 La Liga games since the start of the 2018/19 season. Only three of those departures took place in the first half of 2020/21.
The 28-year-old has regularly been linked with a move elsewhere to jumpstart his career. He was reportedly offered to Chelsea last January, while Arsenal and Everton, the latter with former Real coach Carlo Ancelotti at the helm, have more recently been seen as possible destinations.
Juventus, AC Milan and Sevilla are the European teams that have reportedly kept an eye on him.
According to AS, Sevilla are the team that Isco has “chosen” at this point. That would mean reuniting with former Spain manager Julen Lopetegui, under whom the player has performed well for La Roja – including notable performances against Italy and Argentina in 2017 and 2018 respectively.
As well as reconnecting with Lopetegui and thriving in that style of play, there is the added bonus that Sevilla are much closer than Madrid to their family in Malaga.
The problem for Isco is that while he has no prospects with Real, Zidane could refuse to let him go in the January transfer window at the risk of leaving the team too thin in the short term.
Isco will therefore likely have to wait until summer to be able to move, when he will only have one year left on his contract, which will likely make a deal very affordable for Sevilla.
Real are said to be asking for between € 15m and € 20m and a move seems feasible, although another short-term ramification for Isco is that he’s unlikely to secure a place in the Spanish team for next year’s European Championship delayed, having not been called up since 2019. That is unlikely to change until he plays regularly at club level.
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