MADRID, 22 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Real Madrid will play the first game of their pre-season tour of the United States in the early hours of this Sunday to Monday (04:00), and they will do so against AC Milan at the Rose Bowl stadium in Los Angeles (California), with their eyes on the debut of Jude Bellingham wearing the white shirt, but with echoes of Kylian Mbappé very vivid.
The French striker from Paris Saint-Germain, a well-known object of desire for Real Madrid fans for five years now, will not be on his team’s imminent Asian tour. By being left off the list for Japan, the recurring summer soap opera has risen in temperature and threatens to overshadow Real Madrid’s first date in Pasadena.
Almost 24 kilometers separate the Rose Bowl from Hollywood, but the merengue club still cannot boast of having the brightest star on the international soccer scene on its squad. Mbappé’s refusal to renew his contract with PSG when it expires, in 2024, has increased the chances that he will join Real Madrid sooner rather than later.
However, Mbappé’s refrain is repeated too much and doesn’t stick, so for now the spotlight will be on Bellingham. At just 20 years old, and after having championed Borussia Dortmund, the Englishman hopes to make a quality leap in his swift career. Without Marco Asensio, Eden Hazard, Mariano Díaz or Karim Benzema around him, he will be the beacon.
But the face of the Stourbridge midfielder will not be the only new one at the fledgling Real Madrid in the 2023/24 season. The Turkish midfielder Arda Güler, even younger than Bellingham, seems to have landed well in Carlo Ancelotti’s training. And in the same way, the ex-canteranos Fran García and Joselu Mato will play again as meringues.
For this American tour, framed in the friendly Soccer Champions Tour 2023 tournament, Ancelotti will not have attacker Dani Ceballos due to an injury to his right distal biceps femoral tendon. In addition, the Italian coach did not include Reinier Jesus, Antonio Blanco or Álvaro Rodríguez in his list either, since they have the exit door open.
In the front rows, Milan will kick off another project with Stefano Pioli directing their bench. With the additions already made of the American striker Christian Pulisic and the English interior Ruben Loftus-Cheek, both from Chelsea FC, the ‘rossonero’ team intends to shore up its squad.
He has also signed the Dutch midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and the young Argentine winger Luka Romero, names with almost no reputation to try to cover a double goodbye. On the one hand, the Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic confirmed his final retirement at the age of 41; and on the other hand, the pivot Sandro Tonali joined the brand new Newcastle United.