This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
The international break is now behind us and that means that the club football is finally making a return. Real Madrid will travel to Mallorca this weekend but if the latest reports coming out of AS are true, Gareth Bale won’t be included in the squad. This could open the door for Rodrygo to feature again.
On the chalkboard
By this point, we all know about Bale and his uncanny injury history.
Throughout the years, apart from showcasing his obvious qualities from time to time, the 30-year-old Welshman has also become quite notorious for his unlucky injury woes.
Watch Spanish Football Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below
Just last season, he suffered from five different issues and was sidelined for a total of nine games. But even though that doesn’t sound like a lot, what’s more concerning is the fact that Bale gets injured almost every single season.
Still, despite that being mostly bad news for Los Blancos, a certain 18-year-old prodigy might get another taste of some first-team action due to Bale’s most recent problem, suffered during the international break.
A silver lining
Rodrygo is one of those talents that we know has the potential for big things but he just hasn’t been able to demonstrate it on the big stage yet.
But when he has played, the 18-year-old Brazilian has impressed.
Watch Lionel Messi and Gareth Bale answer the internet’s weirdest questions in the video below…
He made his season debut against Osasuna at the Santiago Bernabeu and managed to score a brilliant goal in the 19 minutes he spent on the pitch for the Galacticos.
Real Madrid ended up winning that game 2-0 but Rodrygo has since been left out of the first-team mix, spending time either on the bench or with the B team.
However, Bale’s reported injury means there’s a free slot on that right side, and the Brazilian, although he’s primarily a left-winger, can slot into that position when needed as well.
After all, Transfermarkt do have him marked down as a right-winger in four games in their database and he even managed to bag one assist in one of those games too.
Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea for Zinedine Zidane to give the kid a chance considering rotation would be advisable with a tough week ahead – Barcelona await next weekend – and Mallorca’s poor run of form so far in the season.
Who knows, maybe he can surprise everyone once again and help Real find a silver lining to Bale’s latest injury.
It’s definitely worth a shot.