Raul Gonzalez highlights improvement in long-term right-back option for Real Madrid

Real Madrid are at something of a crossroads in terms of their right-back position. Los Blancos will be making a decision on whether they should trust Dani Carvajal for the coming years, given his age, injuries and mixed form of late, or if they should look to provide competition for him. Real Madrid Castilla manager believes Los Blancos have an interesting long-term project at the club already.

Last April it was confirmed that Brazilian youngster Vinicius Tobias would be arriving on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk. He travelled with Carlo Ancelotti and the senior team on their preseason tour to  the USA last summer, and they have a purchase option on the youngster thought to be around €18m.

Speaking to Marca, his manager Raul highlighted the development of Tobias, who only arrived in Europe early in 2022.

“In these four or five months he is improving. Offensively, he has quality and is daring to do more and more things. And defensively, when the team have been organized and more solid with the line of five, we have helped him to progress.”

Raul was non-committal on whether he would pull the trigger on that release clause.

“The issue of the decision does not correspond to me, but he is a boy where you can see improvement. Let’s hope he stays this season and when the decision has to be made, that it be the best for him and for the club. My intention is to help him, like everyone else, and look for his best version and accumulate demanding matches, like the three this week that he has been able to play, like many, with some fatigue, but it is what he has to adapt to in his sporting career.”

Tobias has played 18 times for Castilla and the under-19 side this season, contributing 4 goals and 2 assists from full-back.

If he were to make the jump to the senior side, he would add something entirely different to Carvajal. Perhaps with a larger technical projection and more speed, Tobias would be more similar to the winger-come-full-back style that has become popular, rather than the more rugged defending of Carvajal.