A budding Real Madrid star given his first team debut by Carlo Ancelotti last season wants to leave the club this season according to SPORT, which cited anonymous sources.
Nico Paz joined Madrid's famed La Fabrica academy in 2023 and was handed his senior debut in the Champions League by coming on as a 77th minute substitute in a match against Braga at the Bernabeu back in November.
A few days later, he made another cameo against Valencia as Los Blancos won 5-1, and closed the month out by scoring his first ever goal in the elite against Napoli on the continent which helped seal a 4-2 victory.
Such exploits helped the 19-year-old earn winners medals in both of the mentioned competitions as Ancelotti's men won an impressive treble.
Yet just like many products of La Fabrica, Paz sees his path to regular minutes in the first XI blocked. With new arrivals Kylian Mbappe and Endrick only set to complicate matters further, it is difficult for him to be picked above the likes of fellow offensive midfielders such as Jude Bellingham, Brahim Diaz, Arda Guler and Fede Valverde.
Ancelotti needs a more defensive pivot, such as Mario Martin, before someone like Paz, who reportedly thinks it is now time to seek pastures new.
Excelling in the Castilla, he does not want to continue playing in the reserve outfit and intends to find a higher level team to continue his progress in the pro ranks.
With a contract at Madrid until 2027, Paz is currently rated at $10.8 million (€10 million) by his club which doesn't want to sell him unless he explicitly asks to be transferred.
It appears that the Spanish-born Argentina U20 prospect will not be short of suitors. Leganes has already made enquiries, while Benfica in Portugal and Borussia Dortmund - two of the best clubs in Europe for young talent to blossom - are also said to be interested.
Changing agents a few months ago, Paz could be the latest academy pearl to leave Madrid but it wouldn't be surprising to see a buyback clause inserted into the terms of any potential sale.
Join The Conversation
Comments
One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts.
Read our community guidelines .Forbes Community Guidelines
Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space.
In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site's Terms of Service. We've summarized some of those key rules below. Simply put, keep it civil.
Your post will be rejected if we notice that it seems to contain:
- False or intentionally out-of-context or misleading information
- Spam
- Insults, profanity, incoherent, obscene or inflammatory language or threats of any kind
- Attacks on the identity of other commenters or the article's author
- Content that otherwise violates our site's terms.
User accounts will be blocked if we notice or believe that users are engaged in:
- Continuous attempts to re-post comments that have been previously moderated/rejected
- Racist, sexist, homophobic or other discriminatory comments
- Attempts or tactics that put the site security at risk
- Actions that otherwise violate our site's terms.
So, how can you be a power user?
- Stay on topic and share your insights
- Feel free to be clear and thoughtful to get your point across
- ‘Like’ or ‘Dislike’ to show your point of view.
- Protect your community.
- Use the report tool to alert us when someone breaks the rules.
Thanks for reading our community guidelines. Please read the full list of posting rules found in our site's Terms of Service.