Achraf returns to Madrid with Zidane longing for a figure like his. Not surprisingly, the French coach is juggling to cover the right side, with the two pure lanes of the squad (Carvajal and Odriozola) injured, as well as the centrals who can reconvert to the position (Nacho and Militao). However, the coach has options left: today Lucas Vázquez will start, and if that could not be either, he could always send Mendy to the right and go out with Marcelo on the left. However, this moment of absences on the right-hand flank of the rear has reminded more than one what Madrid is missing without Achraf.
Going to Inter was a decision agreed with Madrid, but above all an initiative of Achraf, which was clear that the most important thing was to continue growing with quality minutes, which in Madrid was going to be difficult while Carvajal, an institution of the position, continued at its best level. The two-year stint in Dortmund taught Achraf that, although Madrid had always been his dream since he was a child (he joined the Madrid quarry in October 2006, as a first-year baby), there was life beyond the white club.
In this process, Inter Milan crossed paths, among the many interested parties, with a very succulent economic proposal for Madrid (40 fixed million plus five in variables), another equally attractive for the player (he starts winning five million clean plus bonus for goals, in a five-year contract with a growing record) and, above all, a sporting opportunity that the winger liked from the beginning. Antonio Conte, who was dazzled during a Dortmund-Inter in which Achraf doubled, sold him the Inter of the future in which he was going to be a key player as a lane in a 3-5-2 system that suits him like a glove.
Achraf, with Inter.
AFP7 via Europa Press
However, Achraf has not definitively left Real Madrid. His contract includes a scoring option for Madrid during the five yearsTherefore, if Inter receives an offer and is tempted to accept it, it must inform the white club so that, within a maximum period of 72 hours, it can match it or allow it to happen without intervening. The ideal would have been a buyback option, but in Italy they are prohibited to avoid financial makeup of the accounts.
Madrid valued Inter as a good option also in that sense: relations with the Italian club are excellent andn Valdebebas know that getting Achraf out of Milan will be much easier than, for example, from Munich (Bayern also submitted an offer). Carvajal, at 28, still has rope for a while, but in a few years a gap may open up in the right lane and Madrid, for now, has that letter up its sleeve.
If there is a goal, there will be no celebration
In conversation with AS in October 2019, Achraf made it clear that his priority was Real Madrid, but that no doors were closed: “I can't lie, of course I'd like to succeed there. I've grown up in Madrid, it's my home and I would like to grow there, but if not, I will try to succeed elsewhere. That is my dream”. He is no longer a white player, but the feeling is still latent. So much so that if you see a door in Valdebebas, there will be no celebration.
“If I'm honest, no. I wouldn't, I'm not one of those players. It's my home, it's the club that has helped me, that has given me the opportunity to be a footballer. I will be eternally grateful. I couldn't celebrate it, “he commented to AS. Madrid should be careful in that regard. Achraf, despite being a winger, has a close relationship with the goal: last season he scored nine and this one already has one, along with two assists .