Bayern Munich have signed Alvaro Odriozola on loan from Real Madrid till the end of the season, the Bundesliga champions have confirmed.
Bayern Munich have made an official statement to confirm that they have secured the services of Alvaro Odriozola on a short-term loan deal. The Real Madrid defender has passed his medical and will be a Bayern Munich player till June 30, 2020.
Alvaro Odriozola joined Real Madrid from Real Sociedad in the summer of 2018 but has struggled to nail down a place as a regular in the first-team setup since. The Spaniard was afforded plenty of opportunities when Santiago Solari was in charge of Los Blancos last season, and he made 22 appearances across all competitions.
#ServusÁlvaro ?⚪2️⃣ pic.twitter.com/OXcjDp19Pe
— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) January 22, 2020
However, his situation since Zinedine Zidane returned to the helm at the Bernabeu has been rather grim, although he was also pegged back by an injury towards the end of last season. This term, though, Odriozola has turned out just 5 times for Real Madrid, barely even making the squad most of the times.
With Dani Carvajal going strong after a slow start to the season, Odriozola had been finding it hard to break into the side. His situation at Real Madrid seemed to have piqued the interest of Bayern Munich, with reports emerging late on Tuesday that a deal was in the works.
The interest from Bayern Munich is rather curious but makes some sense as well, seeing as Joshua Kimmich has, more often than not, been deployed as a holding midfielder this season. Kimmich’s shift to being a midfielder has left Benjamin Pavard as the only other option for the right-back slot.
With Pavard also being used as a centre-back, the need to have a traditional right-back is understandable. And, true to nature, Bayern Munich have been quick in snapping up their target. The Spaniard has joined the Bundesliga on loan from Real Madrid less than 24 hours after reports of Die Roten’s interest emerged.
Bayern have signed Odriozola on a short-term deal, which will expire on June 30, 2020. Interestingly, there is no option or obligation to make the 24-year-old’s stay at the Allianz Arena permanent, which suggests that Real Madrid perhaps see him as part of their squad next season.
Nevertheless, Odriozola has now become Bayern Munich’s third loan recruit this season, joining Philippe Coutinho and Ivan Perisic as temporary guests at the club. It will now be interesting to see if the player can kickstart his season following his struggles with Real Madrid in the first half of the campaign and maybe even stake claim for the Spanish squad at UEFA Euro 2020.
