Marcelo won’t be leaving Real Madrid this summer amid interest from Premier League pair Everton and Leeds United, president Florentino Perez has told Marca.
Following the emotional departure of one club legend, it always felt unlikely that Real Madrid would allow another to leave via the back door.
Marcelo, a four-time Champions League winner who has played more than 500 games for the Spanish giants, recently inherited the captain’s armband from long-serving teammate Sergio Ramos.
In fact, the Brazilian will become the club’s first ‘foreign’ skipper since Englishman Arthur Johnson in 1904!
The Mirror had suggested, with Marcelo due to become a free agent in 2022 and having lost his place to Ferland Mendy in the Los Blancos XI, a move to England was on the cards.
Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United are in the market for a swashbuckling left-back, with Everton rumoured to be interested too – 12 months after snapping up another big-name Galactico in the shape of James Rodriguez.
But, perhaps fearing a leadership vacuum in an already youthful Madrid dressing room, Perez has taken the opportunity to put any remaining speculation to bed.
Is Marcelo heading to the Premier League or staying at Real Madrid?
“Marcelo has one year left on his contract. He will be the captain of Real Madrid,” explains the most trigger-happy of presidents.
“He has been here for many years. It’s difficult to find a left-back like Marcelo. Along with Roberto Carlos, he’s the best left-back there has ever been.”
What sort of role Marcelo will play at Madrid next season remains to be seen.
The Brazilian started just 12 La Liga matches last term and now has the “phenomenal” Miguel Gutierrez for competition, as well as the ever-improving Mendy.
New recruit David Alaba can also play at left-back.
It was suggested recently that Marcelo, who earns an eye-watering £260,000 a week at the Santiago Bernabeu, is in danger of being frozen out of the first–team picture by returning Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti.
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