According to several reports coming from Spain, Isco is set to leave Real Madrid as a free agent when his contract expires at the end of the season. There will be no extension signed or offered.
The attacking midfielder appears to be on the verge of agreeing move to Real Betis on a two-year contract with an option on a third, which would have him earning €10 million per season, more than any other player currently at Manuel Pellegrini’s disposal. It seems the Chilean coach is the man pushing hard to make this transfer happen.
Isco joined Real from Malaga in 2013 for a reported fee of €30m. Since then he’s gone on to make a total of 351 appearances for Los Blancos in all competitions, scoring 53 goals and producing 56 assists. He was never really a first-choice starter, though there was a time when Zinedine Zidane preferred him to Gareth Bale on the left wing for a while.
Primarily a classic No. 10, the 30-year-old is capable of playing in a box-to-box role, on either attacking flank or even as a centre-forward if need be, and sometimes it seemed that his versatility proved his biggest problem. He was never seen as a specialist, but rather as a player who can be a high-quality backup for a number of positions.
The 38-cap Spain international is apparently still waiting to see where exactly Betis will finish the season and whether they’ll be playing in the Champions League next term. As things stand, they are four points short of Atletico Madrid in fourth place, with five games left to play.
