Real Madrid to promote 19-year-old Castilla starlet to first team for the rest of the season | OneFootball

Just when it seemed like Real Madrid had come out of their left-back crisis with Ferland Mendy returning to fitness, the Frenchman suffered a new blow and is out for the season.

That, coupled with the season-ending injury to David Alaba, means that Real Madrid are with only Fran Garcia as the available left-back until the end of the season.

The development is a worrying one for Carlo Ancelotti, especially considering that there is serious pressure to do well in both La Liga and the FIFA Club World Cup.

An option from the academy

As relayed by AS in a recent report, the Castilla team’s Youssef Enriquez Lekhedim, fondly called ‘Yusi’, is the favourite to act as Real Madrid’s backup left-back and will travel with the team for the remainder of the season.

The youngster is no stranger to training under Carlo Ancelotti’s orders and has even travelled with the team to the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, one La Liga game and a UCL clash earlier this season.

🔗 Instagram

Ancelotti sees him as a promising option to ply his trade for the first team and has kept him in the loop of the senior training dynamics in recent days. A debut in the coming weeks cannot be ruled out.

Yusi joined Real Madrid’s academy in 2017 and has rapidly ascended the ranks ever since. He stands out as one of the team’s top left-back prospects and he will look to tread the same path Raul Asencio embarked on earlier this season.

So far this term, Yusi has played all of Real Madrid Castilla’s games in the Primera RFEF barring one and has one goal and four assists to his name.

The youngster will look forward to stamping his authority on the chances he receives, but he must first leave a mark in training.