The situation
Mariano Díaz (29 years old) continues along the same lines as in previous seasons . So far, the player has only played five minutes against Leipzig in the Champions League, despite the fact that Benzema has been out for four games due to injury . He does not finish making a hole in the team, even with the departure this summer of Luka Jovic , Carlo Ancelotti’s plan B (549 minutes for the Serb last year, compared to 392 ‘for Mariano). The club has been making him see for several seasons that they do not have him, but the player continues to reject the offers that arrive and clings to his contract that ends this year. At the end of July, Fenerbahçe presented an offer of five million net per season, being the only team that could afford his salary. The answer was negative on the part of the player, who ended up asking for the release letter and the club ruled him out , since it would mean giving up the €33M that it cost to sign him from Olympique de Lyon. During his time in Ligue 1, Mariano once again showed the best version of himself. He recorded 21 goals and 6 assists in 48 games. Sevilla were interested in him, but Madrid exercised the right of first refusal at the request of Julen Lopetegui, who needed a nine substitute for Benzema, and which ended with the player’s ‘yes’. Since his return to the capital in 2018, Mariano has played 1,767 minutes, with a total of 7 goals in a Real Madrid shirt in 60 games. He has an average of 0.39 goals per game, which last year dropped to 0.16. Last year, the striker played 392 minutes, scoring just one goal in 11 games (9 in the League, one in the Copa del Rey and another in the Champions League). These weeks without Benzema available, Real Madrid have managed to overcome without his help , managing to remain undefeated and scoring 11 goals (Valverde three, Vinicius and Rodrygo two, and Asensio, Rüdiger, Modric and Hazard one each).
from the quarry
His past in the lower categories of the club led him to make his debut with the first team. In his first two seasons with Real Madrid C, the attacker scored 32 goals in 43 official matches, earning him the nickname Mariano Nazario. He later moved up to Castilla, where he scored 48 goals in 46 games .