Rodrygo and the difficult life on the Real Madrid tightrope

The transition of leadership to the exit ramp is a process that other players have gone through, who tried to hold on to the position just as the Brazilian now intends to do.

No one wants to leave Real Madrid. It is a historical reason that underpins this sentiment and is embodied in the phrase: "Outside this club, it's very cold." The consequences of a departure, whatever they may be, affect all names equally. Cristiano, Casemiro, Benzema, Ramos, Asensio... Even legends, like some of the names mentioned above, have a complex reset. Hence, Rodrygo's attitude of clinging to his number, his position, or whatever it may be is natural. Also, because of the salary and conditions, which are hardly offerable outside Real Madrid in its current form.

The short-term suspension of Xabi Alonso

Rodrygo has been receiving, so far, public messages that do not go beyond the waiting period. "Nothing is happening with Rodrygo. The Club World Cup was a different context, because of the competition it was. We can leave it behind. Today it was just one game, what matters is this season and I count on Rodrygo, there's no need to read too much into the future. If he has those minutes in three months I can respond with more certainty. It has been due to game circumstances and my decision," said Xabi Alonso after the game against Osasuna, leaving his short-term participation up in the air.

Even in the white coach's speech, the decline in Rodrygo's stock at Real Madrid is perceptible. Initially, the Basque coach gave him a window of opportunity. Although it only took one Club World Cup match for him to decide that Rodrygo would not be a player to include in his short-term project. He started against Al Hilal, the white club's debut match in the US. He did so as part of the usual 4-3-3 formation during the past campaign and which Xabi Alonso has returned to at the start of the 2025/2026 season.

“He had important minutes for him, and Rodrygo is going to be important. Everyone has to be prepared, because in tournaments like the Club World Cup, those who come on as starters are just as important as those on the bench,” said the Real Madrid coach after that first failed start. However, his gestures in the response suggested that he had not found in the Brazilian the reaction he was expecting. Then, he barely gave him a few minutes against RB Salzburg, with the match already decided.

Rodrygo the yin, Mastantuono the yang

He was given a chance to play at the end of the quarter-finals against Borussia Dortmund, considering that the tie was already decided. Rodrygo came on in the 86th minute, just when the match flared up, with a goal from Beier, the sending-off of Huijsen, and a penalty that almost undid all that had been achieved up to that point. In fact, the red card shown to the Spanish international would be the beginning of the end for Real Madrid in a tournament where they exited through the back door after the thrashing against PSG. Rodrygo, therefore, did not achieve the comeback he was hoping for. Nor was it a catalyst for the interest of other clubs.

Right now, Rodrygo is like Schrödinger's cat. He is as much inside as outside Real Madrid. Inside, because his contract, which was renewed in 2023 at the peak of his career and is valid until 2028, indicates so. But at the same time, he is outside, at least of Xabi Alonso's plans, for whom the goal in preseason against Tirol did not serve as a sign of recovery. Training sessions are decisive, and on that hierarchical scale, Brahim started in the 'pole position', although his limited impact in his debut could open the door to Mastantuono.

The Argentine is living a situation opposite to that of the Brazilian. He has landed on his feet and is the player with the most appeal, both for Xabi Alonso and for the white fans, who have already labeled Rodrygo as transferable. Only a few cling to the memory of the unbalancing footballer of European nights who burst onto white history with a brace against City, one of the many teams he has been linked to. Although to date, the only one that has made a call, not a formal attempt, is Tottenham.

The loss of Ancelotti, his great advocate

Other players have passed through the spotlight of Gauss's bell. One of them was precisely the one from whom Rodrygo would end up taking the right flank: Marco Asensio. The Balearic player was never an absolute starter, a condition that the Brazilian did manage to hold, and paradoxically, it was the beginning of his decline. Both functioned well as substitutes or secondary players. The Mallorcan ended up leaving because he wanted more minutes and an important role, something that was not guaranteed to him at Real Madrid, which this year, according to Xabi Alonso, will be governed by the "no one has a fixed position" principle.

Isco went through a similar situation, feeling "that he no longer had to be there", but he spent nine seasons linked to the white club. Because there is a long way from placing a player on the market to transferring him for amounts like those the Real Madrid hopes to receive for Rodrygo, valued at 100 million. Others couldn't even assert themselves to gain credit for a potential signing, as was the case with Illarramendi. There have been several such false bets in the white club's history, like Munitis back in the day.

Sometimes, the revaluation was unexpected, with Amavisca being one of those signings with little expectation that became fundamental with his participation. In the case of the Cantabrian, there was a fundamental factor that also applies to Rodrygo's situation. The left winger from Laredo thrived under Valdano, but when he lost his protection, after the Argentine left, his participation decreased.

The great advocate of the Brazilian lies precisely in the Canarinha. A Carlo Ancelotti who protected him and kept him in the starting eleven until circumstances allowed it. Now he intends to take him to a selection window with Brazil with no more pressure than getting minutes, exactly what he didn't do in the first list he offered, when, aware of the form of the Madrid '11', he opted not to call him up. A decision he will now make with Militao and Vinicius, to protect them and relieve them of minutes.