Real Madrid midfielder Isco Alarcon confirmed on Monday he is leaving the club when his contract expires in June.
The 30-year-old will leave the club he joined from Malaga in the summer of 2013 after making 352 appearances in which he scored 53 goals, although he had lost his place in the starting line-up in recent seasons, as highlighted by the fact he didn’t play a single minute of Real Madrid’s Champions League win over Liverpool on Saturday night.
Isco is not the only player who will leave Real Madrid this summer, with Brazilian left-back Marcelo confirming during the club’s celebrations on Sunday night that he too had played his last match for the club.
Isco, 30, was sparingly used by manager Carlo Ancelotti in the 2021-22 season, playing only 17 times in all competitions.
“After nine years I finish my journey at Real Madrid, a club that has made it possible for me to fulfil all the dreams I had as a kid,” Isco wrote on Instagram.
“Apart from fulfilling dreams, winning more titles than I had ever imagined, playing with the greatest players, meeting incredible people – I have had the best time… See you always and Hala Madrid.”
He began his career at Valencia, playing mainly in its reserve team, before joining Malaga in 2011. His performances at Malaga earned him the Golden Boy award in 2012 and a 30 million euros move to Real Madrid in June 2013, with whom he has won 19 major trophies, including five UEFA Champions League titles, three La Liga titles, one Copa del Rey and four FIFA Club World Cup titles.
Ancelotti’s first signing in 2013
On 26 June 2013, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez confirmed that a deal had been reached with the player and that he would be presented by the club next week once he passed his medical; the following day, he signed a five-year contract with Real Madrid paying 30 million euros for his services, thus becoming the first signing of newly appointed manager Carlo Ancelotti.
Following his move to Real Madrid, manager Carlo Ancelotti played him in a deep-lying playmaker role requiring more sacrifice and defensive duties than his natural position. He has also been deployed as a winger on occasion.
A quick, skilful and creative player with excellent technique and ball control, Isco is known for his natural ability to pick out an inch-perfect pass, dribble effortlessly through two or three challenges or drift a shot into the top corner of the goal. His most common traits are his one-step-ahead reading of the game, his anticipation of space, and the general directing of his side’s performances. He has also been known to take free-kicks.
