Xabi Alonso’s plan for Real Madrid’s in-house replacement for veteran superstar – report | OneFootball

Real Madrid have had Thibaut Courtois’ replacement secured for a long time now and it is none other than the young Spanish talent Fran Gonzalez who has been highly rated in the club’s academy.

Gonzalez’s rise has been known for a long time now and the player even served as Carlo Ancelotti’s third-choice goalkeeper last season, regularly staying in the loop of the senior team training.

After all, the first-team’s goalkeeping coach Luis Llopis personally sees the youngster as having everything needed to replace Courtois and has taken special interest in personally preparing him for the same.

Alonso’s plan

While Gonzalez spent most of last season serving as Ancelotti’s third-choice goalkeeper, Xabi Alonso does not wish to stagnate his development by unnecessarily tying him down to a minimally involved role on his side. MARCA thus bring to light the coach’s plan.

Fran Gonzalez (C) is rated highly at Real Madrid. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

Indeed, Alonso plans to free the talented teenager from the first-team dynamics and help him continue his development as the Castilla’s number one goalkeeper – all while not completely removing him from the first-team loop.

The idea is for Gonzalez to play for the Castilla team regularly this season and still be the first team’s third goalkeeper. However, he will only be called up for games when Alonso cannot count on one of Courtois or Andriy Lunin.

Moreover, the player will continue working with Llopis as well for a few days every week in addition to his regular training with the Castilla team’s goalkeeping coach Diego Lopez.

Last season, the youngster did not play as much as initially anticipated for the B team, especially with Raul not trusting him as much towards the second half of the campaign.

With Alvaro Arbeloa now in charge, however, that is expected to change.