It hasn’t been easy for Fabio Coentrao at Real Madrid, especially this season, pretty much forgotten on the bench or even out of the squad by the new manager. The club does want to sell him, but it seems that getting the price they want in January is impossible, so they’ll be trying to loan him out to AC Milan, who are in dire need of anything to help them get out of their awful situation.
With Milan only 13th at the moment, winning only one league match since October 19, their manager has already announced he’ll leave the club at the end of the season, no matter how this one plays out. In order for him to avoid the sack before that, as Milan are quite close to finding themselves in relegation battles, bringing in new players is a must.
When in form, Coentrao is one of the best left backs in the world, capable of playing on the entire flank, attacking, defending and crossing with high quality. However, he has only featured four times in the league for Real Madrid this season, playing with Marcelo or Nacho at the position, while Coentrao rots away and waits for someone to sign him.
Milan have been using Kevin Constant at left back or Urby Emanuelson. The Dutchman isn’t a natural defender, while Constant simply isn’t up to par of the expectations at the San Siro, but the same goes for most players in Milan’s lineup these days.
Why are Real Madrid loaning and not selling? Coentrao cost them €30 million in 2011, but there’s no chance they’ll be getting that price for him now. Loaning him out to Milan and hopefully him having a successful time in Italy will help them improve their chances of recouping the transfer fee, maybe even getting around €15-20 million for him if everything goes according to plan.