Zinedine Zidane said in the build-up to the derby against Atletico said that Isco does feature in his plans, but the facts speak for themselves as the Spain international is not playing in the big games.
Isco has played just 13 minutes in the Champions League this season and failed to get off the bench against Barcelona, Sevilla or Atletico Madrid.
All this hints at Zidane pushing Isco towards a January exit from the club.
Isco, on his part, has indicated his desire to leave, understandable given that since arriving at Madrid in 2013, he has never been such a peripheral figure in the squad.
The 28-year-old has a contract until 2022 but it seems clear that he has fallen out of favour and his future lies elsewhere.
Zidane has been a long-time fan of Isco and at one time he was a key player for the French manager, but while his message in the press room remains the same, the one he is sending out on the pitch speaks for itself.
The final straw may have come in the game against Cadiz, when Isco started but was replaced at half time.
Isco has lost importance at Madrid and Zidane is holding the door open for him.
Wumbikmryz
310
The thing is Isco flourishes in a 4-4-2 formation and becomes totally useless when played in the 4-3-3 system. Zidane and Real Madrid fancy the 4-3-3 playing system. Therein lies Isco's problems! Since he failed to adapt his game, he became less and less important! In my opinion, I think players that fail to adapt their game are lazy and shouldn't be petted. It's the coach's job to find a playing style that will suit majority of the players and the players job to adapt their game to that style to become winners!
hadklpuz
307
To my opinion Zidane just want to get rid of isco but isco is far better than ordegaard, isco is a player who can operate in different positions in the pitch. He has the ability and technics to dribble, drive the ball forward, linking the play. Look at Asensio his performance drops a lot but Zidane is still using him ahead of isco. Vinicius also is useless up front he is only there to cover spaces but can't even dribble past one player. Hazard will be force to play knowing that he is not the player we use to see. Let Zidane give isco 3 straight games for 90 minutes with Tony kroos, casmiro and Luka modric together like we used to see, am sure he will perform. LACK OF PLAYING TIME KILL PERFORMANCE.