One of the great pearls of the Factory left Real Madrid

Real Madrid have given up on one of the most talented and promising gems to emerge from the Factory in recent years: Paulo Iago. The 17-year-old Madrid playmaker will head to Sporting de Portugal after informing the white club of his intention not to continue with Valdebebabas, as reported Thursday by media outlets in the capital such as Marca and As.

At first, Madrid tried to keep Paulo Iago, but the skilled football player was determined. One of the reasons for his departure, which will be made official soon, is his deteriorating relationship with Álvaro Arbeloa. The Juvenil A coach, who has been key to Iago’s development since he landed in the lower categories in 2014 in one of the juniors, has barely had the midfielder this season.

An ankle injury sidelined him from the team dynamic and Arbeloa kept him sidelined once he recovered. According to the aforementioned media, the Salamanca coach did not give him an explanation for his lack of popularity. An international with Spain in the Under-15, Under-16 and Under-17 categories, Paulo Iago is not feeling well with Arbeloa.

His representative, the superagent Jorge Mendes, was the one who pulled the strings of the operation so that the footballer ended up in Sporting de Portugal. The Portuguese squad’s inclusion in the reserve team will become official in the coming days. Although the midfielder has a contract with Real Madrid until 2025 (he renewed last year, in July 2023), the decision to make the leap is old and done.

The sporting project of Sporting de Portugal, which offered him a place in the reserve team and presence in first team training, ended up convincing the player of Galician origin, who also had proposals from Italian, German and English clubs on the table.