A return home that does not go as planned for Brahim Diaz. Arriving at the Merengues in 2019 while previously playing for Manchester City, the attacking midfielder did not convince during his first season where he played 21 matches for 2 goals and 3 goals. An insufficient return for a player who had cost 17 million euros and that’s where AC Milan arrived to offer him more playing time. Never really indisputable, but capable of having good periods with the Lombards , Brahim Diaz was rather satisfactory during his three seasons spent in Lombardy (124 matches, 18 goals and 15 goals). Dynamo of the Italian team, the native of Málaga had been able to carve out a place of choice in Stefano Pioli’s plans.
So much so that this summer, he could have stayed permanently with the Italian club, it was Real Madrid who decided to repatriate him. Following the departure of Marco Asensio freely for Paris Saint-Germain, the Merengue club wanted a new competitor in Rodrygo Goes and therefore chose the internal decision. “Real Madrid CF announces that on Tuesday June 13 at 12:00 p.m. at the City of Real Madrid the presentation ceremony of Brahim Díaz will take place, who will return as a player of our club until June 30, 2027, after his loan for three seasons at AC Milan. At this point he became a fundamental player of the historic Italian team. With Brahim, AC Milan were Serie A champions again in 2022 and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League this season., the club proudly announced in a press release. And there was optimism since the player performed well in pre-season, but the situation has since changed a lot.
A goal and then in the closet
Having to wait until September 27 and a match against Las Palmas to make his first start, he rather shone and scored in a victory (2-0). His coach Carlo Ancelotti was rather enthusiastic after his player’s performance: “Brahim can play in all positions of the attack. If he plays as a playmaker, he has to do a defensive job that doesn’t go with his characteristics. When he plays as one of the two attackers he moves very well and with the ball at his feet he has great quality. Facing a team that comes together a lot, he has the technique in small spaces and with his quality he can help us. It has extraordinary quality in small spaces.” A spark and then nothing. This is the assessment of Brahim Diaz who has since had only crumbs with 16 minutes in 7 matches. Worse, he hasn’t played a single minute in the last three games. A fairly incomprehensible banning, especially when we see the offensive difficulties of the Merengues (23 goals in 12 matches, 4th attack in La Liga) and the small number of players available for the three most advanced positions (Rodrygo Goes, Joselu, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham).
Only the nineteenth most used player in the Madrid squad with only 119 minutes at the start of the season to his credit, Brahim Diaz is an enigma in the Madrid context. Author of 7 goals and 8 assists in 45 matches last season, the Spanish international (1 cap and 1 goal) is experiencing a rather surprising situation. Well when he had his chance, he can only wait and hope that Carlo Ancelotti remembers that he has another option at his disposal… Precisely, the Italian coach was questioned about this at a press conference and wanted burst the abscess: “The competition is very great. He’s a player that I like, who is serious, professional and who will play his role. It could be tomorrow or during the next matches. I read that he is condemned, no. I am not a judge who condemns. It’s a very bad word. I have something special for him because he played for Milan.” It now remains to be seen whether Brahim Diaz will get his chance again very quickly…
