From playing every match in the summer to barely featuring now, Fran Garcia finds himself in a difficult situation at Real Madrid.
The 26-year-old left-back was a permanent fixture in the early phase of Xabi Alonso’s tenure as manager, featuring regularly at the FIFA Club World Cup, and even impressing.
However, the Spaniard has faded to obscurity since the start of the new season, and has barely been seen in action.
Struggling for relevance
So far this season, Real Madrid have played 16 matches, and Garcia’s total involvement amounts to just 208 minutes across four appearances.
He started and played full matches in two of them (against Levante and Kairat Almaty), and came off the bench in two others (against Real Sociedad and Juventus). In the remaining 12 fixtures, he remained an unused substitute.
Fran Garcia of Real Madrid
Struggling for minutes. (Photo by Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images)
It was expected that the arrival of Alvaro Carreras would make competition for the left-back position tougher, but not to this extent.
As such, MARCA reports that Garcia will undoubtedly receive offers to leave Real Madrid in the upcoming winter transfer window.
Alonso backed the 26-year-old from his first day as Real Madrid manager, and the player responded well to that trust. He emerged stronger from the Club World Cup and entered pre-season with momentum.
Since then, however, his involvement has sharply declined, and all this happened before Ferland Mendy had even recovered. Now that the Frenchman is back, the competition for the position has become even more difficult.
For now, Mendy’s return has been symbolic rather than practical: five call-ups and zero minutes played.
But, with the winter transfer window approaching, Garcia’s situation could well prove to be something that Real Madrid will have to assess, especially if attractive offers end up arriving.