Real Madrid willing to sell Isco in January

Real Madrid are prepared to sell Isco in the January transfer window if an offer comes that suits both the club and the four-time Champions League winner.

January will be Real’s last chance to sell for a fee as his contract is due to expire at the end of the season. But whether it is next month or is delayed until the summer, he will be leaving the Bernabeu at some point in 2022.

Isco’s future with Los Blancos has been in question since 2018. He hasn’t started more than 15 La Liga games in any of the last three seasons – limited to just eight in 2020/21 – and has again remained on the fringes so far this season.

The 29-year-old has only played once in any competition since September, getting 11 minutes off the bench in a comfortable win over Granada last month.

Carlo Ancelotti played down a potential recent row with Isco after it appeared that he refused to keep warming up before getting onto the pitch against Granada. Even though the coach publicly extinguished that fire very quickly, the player hasn’t featured since.

AS writes that there is no plan for Real to offer a contract extension and no plan for Isco to accept if even if there was one. The ideal is that a suitable offer will be made in January, although that is not necessarily expected as clubs may not be willing to pay a transfer fee so soon before he would be available as a free agent anyway.

Isco initially arrived at Real from Malaga in 2013 when Ancelotti was in his first spell in charge and won the Champions League during his first season. He was famously favoured over Gareth Bale to start the 2018 Champions League final, but the last three years have seen his career stall.

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