Real Madrid no longer know what to do with Reinier

In recent years, Real Madrid has spread the idea that all it takes is shaking a tree on the lawn of the Santiago-Bernabéu for Brazilian talents to appear and swarm. Between Vinícius Júnior, landed in 2018 from Flamengo and today ambassador of this new Auriverde generation, or even Rodrygo and Éder Militão, who arrived respectively from Santos and Porto in 2019, then later became immutable pieces of Carlo’s group Ancelotti, examples abound. But these models of success have nevertheless camouflaged what could be likened to the beginning of failure: Reinier.

Arrived in January 2020 at Real Madrid, in the wake of Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo, also stamped as a great hope of Brazilian football, the former Flamengo player is not currently housed in the same boat as his two eldest, for put it mildly. After an unsuccessful two-year first Erasmus at Borussia Dortmund, in Germany, where many Casa Blanca products had nevertheless managed to take off before him (Hakimi, Carvajal, Vallejo, Mayoral…), Reinier bounced back this season in Girona, in Catalonia, but is still struggling to take off.

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The huge concern of Real Madrid

His season is still taking a bad turn

If his start to the season was promising, however, Reinier saw his status wither under the orders of the Spanish technician Míchel – not to be confused with the former coach of OM, who is him today at the Olympiacos. Holder at the start of the exercise as a free electron of the Catalan 3-4-3, and even scorer during the 4th day of La Liga against Real Valladolid, the Brazilian was then caught up with a muscular problem, before passing completely to the ace.

Again hit in the femoral biceps in November, the Brazilian international hopeful had been excluded from the Catalan group for 9 games, straddling the pre and post-World Cup period. He finally returned to it on February 17, without however coming into play against Almeria. Since the start of 2023, Reinier has paid a heavy price for Michel’s change of system, and the good dynamics triggered by his team (Girona is 8th in La Liga for 2023). Worse, he only played 32 minutes of play scattered over 11 games in 2023, or 990 possible minutes.

What future for Reinier in Madrid?

Bought for €30m in 2020 by Real Madrid, the player of the 2002 Brazilian generation has seen his market value collapse in recent months, now standing at around €3m, according to the specialized site. Transfermarkt. It is therefore difficult, in the current state of things, to imagine Real Madrid generating added value on its attacking midfielder, even in the event of the unexpected arrival of a Premier League club on the file. With the professional squad of the Madrid club, Reinier has never played a single minute of play. He had had a short stint with Castilla when he arrived in January 2020, playing only 3 games before the COVID hit. manifests. Due to the quota of extra-community players already reached, he had not had the slightest prospect of joining the A contingent.

Today, several clubs are still ready to relaunch it. Mundo Deportivo reported this month that Serie A players Lazio Roma and Atalanta Bergamo have expressed interest in the 21-year-old. Two non-negligible exit doors even if the most concrete interest would be today in Brazil, where his training club Flamengo would like to recover him in the form of a loan, just like the Paulista club Corinthians. In other words, Reinier should continue to observe his Brazilian elders from Real Madrid in the long view, especially since Brahim Díaz, who had a nice break in Italy and whose return to the Spanish capital is planned for this summer, should leave with a clear head start on him.