When Real Madrid sacked Julen Lopetegui just four months into the 2018/19 season, Los Blancos were on a run of five defeats in six games and had just suffered a humiliating 5-1 defeat to Clasico rivals Barcelona.
That was not to say, however, that the departure of the former Spain coach in late-October was greeted with a sigh of relief by every member of the Real squad.
“I will always be grateful to Julen Lopetegui; one of the people who made it possible for me to return home,” Mariano Diaz wrote on Twitter. “I wish him the best for the future.”
Lopetegui, after all, had played a key role in the decision to bring Mariano back to the Santiago Bernabeu in a £20 million deal, following a run of 21 goals in 45 games at Lyon. He even inherited the number seven shirt vacated by one Cristiano Ronaldo; a major show of faith in an academy graduate returning for a second spell in the capital.
“I spoke to him before his arrival. We are delighted with his return because he had a good season (at Lyon),” Lopetegui explained.
“He also knows the club and the requirements of Real Madrid. He knows what this shirt and this stadium represents. He’ll help us a lot. I called him to tell him what I thought of him from a football point of view.”
Will Julen Lopetegui and Mariano Diaz be reunited at Wolves?
With the former Porto and Sevilla boss finally shacking up with star-crossed lover Wolverhampton Wanderers – taking over from Bruno Lage and ending a six-year flirtation with the Molineux outfit – Mariano can perhaps expect another phone call from Lopetegui.
According to Sport, the 56-year-old wants Mariano to be his first signing at Molineux. Despite his back-seat role in the Spanish capital, the Spain-born Dominican Republic international has rejected countless chances to leave Real Madrid in recent seasons but the chance to reunite with a coach who knows and trusts in his talent – after playing just 25 minutes of football all season under Carlo Ancelotti – may be too simply good to ignore.
“Mariano is a born finisher,” Madrid legend Jorge Valdano told El Transistor in 2018. “And that his signing was a very smart move from Real Madrid. He’s a player very different from (Karim) Benzema. He offers Lopetegui something different, he is a different style of ‘number nine’.
With just eight goals in 14 games to their name; Lopetegui’s Wolves would undoubtedly benefit from the addition of a natural ‘born finisher’; especially one with a point to prove after four years warming the Bernabeu bench.
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